Reinventing Prosperity. Graeme Maxton
CHAPTER 8 A New Approach
CHAPTER 9 Thirteen Politically Feasible Proposals to Reduce Unemployment, Inequality, and Climate Change
CHAPTER 10 Let the Majority Decide
CHAPTER 11 Let the Poor World Grow
CHAPTER 12 Saving the World
CHAPTER 13 The Epic Battle to Come
Acknowledgments
Notes
Select Bibliography and Further Reading
About the Authors
About the Cartoonist
Index
– LIST OF BOXES –
What is “extreme free-market thinking”?
Why do most people believe that economic growth is good?
Does economic growth lead to greater well-being?
Does economic growth lead to growth in GDP per person?
Does economic growth always bring more jobs?
Does economic growth always reduce inequality?
Is it possible to create economic growth by allowing people to borrow more?
Why does it not work to print money and give it to the rich?
What is labor productivity, and how does it compare to GDP per person?
What is the economic impact of more robotization?
What is the dependency ratio?
What is the effect of aging on the economy?
Why do people think higher birth rates will solve the aging problem?
What are the main challenges facing the rich world?
What are the obvious solutions to the rich-world challenges?
Which criteria need to be met to move forward and address the challenges?
What does it take to build a better world?
Thirteen proposals to reduce unemployment, inequality, and climate change
What are the effects of shortening the work year?
What are the effects of increasing the pension age?
What are the effects of converting voluntary work to paid work?
What are the advantages of increasing unemployment benefits?
Is it possible to increase employment by taking from the rich and giving to the poor?
How can stimulus packages increase output and employment?
What is green growth?
What does it mean to run out of resources?
Is it possible to pay a guaranteed income to all citizens in a modern society? And if so, how high could that income be?
What human development indicators are currently measured, and what new ones should be added for a smooth transition to a better world?
What does it mean to shift from extreme free-market thinking to modified market thinking?
– LIST OF GRAPHS –
Graph 1: Population growth will slow
Graph 2: GDP (total output) will grow, but more slowly
Graph 3: GDP per person will grow at different speeds
Graph 4: The disposable income per person will remain different among the world’s regions
Graph 5: Inequality is increasing, especially in the U.S.
Graph 6: Growth is slowing in the rich, but not in the poor, world
Graph 7: The dependency ratio will stay rather low
Graph 8: Global energy use will rise to a peak in 2040
Graph 9: Energy use per person will converge
Graph 10: Global CO2 emissions will peak in 2030
Graph 11: CO2 emissions per person will finally decline
– LIST OF TABLES –
Table 1: The impact of rapid economic growth, 1820 vs. 2001
Table 2: Population, million people
– FOREWORD –
I WAS INVOLVED in a battle over logging in a B.C. forest when I met the CEO of the company that had the license to log it. We had a heated argument until he finally yelled, “Listen, Suzuki, are tree huggers like you willing to pay for those trees? Because if you are not, they don’t have any value until someone cuts them down.” I was dumbfounded, because to me it seemed crazy to let “value” be defined by the economy. But even more overwhelming was my realization that in the current globalized world, he was right.
The CEO could give me chapter and verse on the volume of pulp, board feet of lumber, jobs that would be created, and profit for his company, while I was left