Comments on: The Costs of Economic Growth, by E J Mishan

By: A steady state economy reading list « Make Wealth History

A steady state economy reading list « Make Wealth History — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:31:14 +0000

[...] E J Mishan -The Costs of Economic Growth [...]

By: Cris Bernal

Cris Bernal — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:07:33 +0000

I think that recent financial crisis highlights the need for drastic change with regard to the economic models and systems that every country in the world adheres to. I talk of monetary systems (whether socialist or capitalist, they are both differing degrees of the same thing), that are designed to thwart progress, in order to maintain the status quo, where the rich get richer, and the rest work harder for less.
Look at who benefitted from the recent crisis. These people will never relinquish their power. These people have moved further towards controlling everything.
Politicians, and politics, as we know them are now redundant. They have nothing to offer.
We live in a world of abundance, where scarcity is a choice made by those with controlling interests in the economy, to maintain high prices for their outdated products (airplanes for example, magnetic levitation powered trains can move much faster, and without adding to the pollution problem).

By: sharma

sharma — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:22:42 +0000

Very interesting

Agree with Mishan – from a sum zero game conceptual framework,forget growth, if growth implies simple sums of Gdp/GVAs. These measures have recently proven us wrong as for this time we have had banking failures followed by corporate failures rather than the other way round. We are infact a ‘gut feel / quaitative’ era. Simple sums and calculus can no longer be the basis of our future, I am not implying that we indulge in complex modelling accomodating infinite factors, but more so suggesting a very change in our collective realism of consumption and trade, be it individual, local or central government on issues such as responsible procurement and international trade. Sharma Guness

By: Post Growth Reading List « Post Growth

Post Growth Reading List « Post Growth — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:08:23 +0000

[...] The Costs of Economic Growth – E. J. Mishan [...]

By: Post Growth Reading List

Post Growth Reading List — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:54:43 +0000

[...] The Costs of Economic Growth, by E. J. Mishan [...]

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:06:22 +0000

Hi Richard,

I’m afraid I don’t know enough about constrained optimization to know how it would apply to the economy – I believe it’s a mathematical problem? If it is what I think it is, then the pricing in of externalities may apply?

As for the consequences of growth being a ‘luxury’, no, I think they always remain a problem. As John Stuart Mill and other early capitalists explained, the idea was that growth would continue until a good standard of living had been achieved, and then the economy would level off. We’ve forgotten that, and we’re now into what Herman Daly calls ‘uneconomic growth’, where any further growth is actually detrimental.

So, it’s never a ‘luxury’, but it is a problem that faces developed countries more. The lesson for developing countries is to avoid the mistakes we’ve made, and spread the rewards more evenly through society from the start.

Copied to your email as requested.

By: Richard Asante

Richard Asante — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:26:51 +0000

Please i would like you to be of help to me. I do have two questions and also i would plead that after it has been published here, a specimen of it would go to my mail as given above with all due respect. The questions are
1. Is a constrained optimization approach a solution to the possible costs of economic growth?
2. Are worries about the consequencies of economic growth a ‘luxury’ that only rich countries can afford?

Thank you

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:37:24 +0000

I don’t know why he’s not better known. It’s not just the Scandinavian countries, I’d never heard of him here in the UK either. I just spotted the book in a second hand shop and the title caught my attention. His books are out of print and there is hardly any information about him on the internet, but this book certainly still has lots to say.

By: Fred Berg

Fred Berg — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:26:41 +0000

How come mr Mishan is not more appreciated, at
least in the Scandinavian countries? During
my studies in Stockholm in the sixties I read the Costs of…. and – jumped away from the studies.

I had come to the conclusion that to propound
M:s thoughts would be futile. So I turned to
other things. Living comfortably now at the age of 73 gives me the opportunity to read
- and reread.

By: Happy like Vanuatu « the nef triple crunch blog

Happy like Vanuatu « the nef triple crunch blog — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:22:35 +0000

[...] from a 100-storey building will survive the first 99 storeys unscathed,” wrote the economist EJ Mishan in response to critics of his attack on the costs of economic growth. It was the 1960s and then, as [...]