The Economic Growth Controversy

242 Pages·1973·19.617 MB·English

by  Andrew Weintraub, Eli Schwartz, J. Richard Aronson (eds.)

The Economic
Growth
Controversy
The
Economic
Gro"Mh
Controversy
Edited by Andrew Weintraub, Eli Schwartz, J. Richard Aronson
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN 978-1-349-02216-8 ISBN 978-1-349-02214-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02214-4
Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http://extras.springer.com
© International Arts & Sciences Press, Inc.,
901 North Broadway, White Plains, New York, 10603, 1973
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1974 978-0-333-16562-1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission.
First published in the USA 1973
First published in the UK 1974
Published by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in New York
Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras
SBN 333 16562 4
Preface
THIS VOLUME contains proceedings of a sym
posium held at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Penn
sylvania, on October 17-19, 1972, under the auspices of
the Center for Social Research and the Department of
Economics. The original idea for the conference arose
during a conversation with Jack K. Busby, who, as
president of the Pennsylvania Power and Light Com
pany (PP&L), is extremely aware of and concerned
about the energy crisis and its role as a symptom of the
broader problems surrounding the economic growth
controversy.
With the financial backing of the Pennsylvania Power
and Light Company, and the moral support of Messrs.
Busby and George Wallace, economist and Director of
Public Affairs at PP&L, we were able to invite scholars
and students, educators, businessmen, and government
officials to Lehigh for three days of intensive discussions
about the problems of economic growth. The opinions
expressed in these proceedings do not, of course, neces
sarily reflect those of PP&L or of Lehigh University.
The importance of the question, the intellectual dis
tinction of the conference speakers and discussants, and
the clarity and quality of their contributions should
make this volume a significant contribution to public
policy analysis. We hope that its contents will stimulate
v
more research and contribute to a better understanding
of a set of problems that may be the most challenging
that mankind has ever faced.
ELI SCHWARTZ
J. RICHARD ARONSON
ANDREW WEINTRAUB
Contributors
LINCOLN H. DAY
Chief, Demographic and Social Statistics Branch
United Nations
ABRAHAM GERBER
National Economic Research Associates, Inc.
MARSHALL I. GOLDMAN
Department of Economics
Wellesley College
Russian Research Center, Harvard University
MELVIN KRANZBERG
Department of Social Science
Georgia Institute of Technology
E. J. MISHAN
Department of Economics
London School of Economics and Political Science
W. E. SCHIESSER
Computer Center and Department of
Chemical Engineering
Lehigh University
S. FRED SINGER
Department of Environmental Science
University of Virginia
vii
Contributors
ROBERT M. SOLOW
Department of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
LESTER THUROW
Department of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
DAVID AMIDON
Center for Social Research
Lehigh University
JAY ANDERSON
Department of Chemistry
Bryn Mawr College
The Club of Rome Study Group
BARRY R. CHISWICK
Department of Economics
Queens College of the City University of New York
National Bureau of Economic Research
JOEL DARMSTADTER
Resources for the Future
RICHARD A. EASTERLIN
Department of Economics
University of Pennsylvania
FINN B. JENSEN
Department of Economics
Lehigh University
SIMON ROTTENBERG
Department of Economics
University of Massachusetts
viii
Contents
Preface v
Contributors vii
Introduction xi
1. Growth and Antigrowth: What Are the Issues?
E. J. MISHAN 3
2. Is the End of the World at Hand?
ROBERT M. SOLOW 39
3. Can Technological Progress Continue to
Provide for the Future?
62
MELVIN KRANZBERG
4. Energy Supply as a Factor in
Economic Growth
ABRAHAM GERBER 82
5. Growth and Environmental Problems of
N oncapitalist Nations
MARSHALL I. GOLDMAN 98
continued
ix
6. Social Consequences of Zero Economic Growth
116
LINCOLN H. DAY
7. Zero Economic Growth and the Distribution
of Income
LESTER THUROW 141
8. Is There an Optimum Level of Population?
S. FRED SINGER 154
9. Discussion of the Papers
JAY ANDERSON, JOEL DARMSTADTER,
DAVID AMIDON, SIMON ROTTENBERG,
BARRY R. CHISWICK, RICHARD A. EASTERLIN 165
10. A Dialogue on the Issues
SIMON ROTTENBERG, ROBERT M. SOLOW,
E. J. MIS HAN, JAY ANDERSON,
FINN B. JENSEN 204
11. The Club of Rome Model
W. E. SCHIESSER 219