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First Amongst Daves said:
Tories often argue that Blair is reaping the benefits of Thatcher's economics.
I think that's probably right, but that's little consolation to those people who lived in despair in the 80s in England.
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magicjay38 said:
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First Amongst Daves said:
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Besides, growth is not sustainable in the long term. Something about resource depletion increasing exponentially. Do the math. It's kind of a varient of the Malthusian Delima.
Well, this is interesting. Wat makes you say economic growth is not sustainable? You postulate limited resources?
You seen a lot of planetary expansion lately? Earth is a closed system. Go to your micro econ text. Read that part about marginal cost and marginal utility.
Or research Robert Malthus and the Malthusian Delima.
You're right. I got the explanation wrong but I still stand by the limitations of growth. As resources are consumed they are replaced by less desirable substitutes, 'marginal lands' in Malthus' words. The supply curve grows steep, shifts upward and in, because marginal costs are rising and there are finite amounts of resources available. Extrapolating on Malthus' theory, resources grow arithmetically while population grows exponentially, frustrating the ability of supply to meet demand.
Again, why are there only limited resources available?
The Earth is a finite system. That is the ultimate reason. Declining marginal utility of substitute resources. Malthus, writing in the 1820 used the example of declining utility of marginal lands. It's textbook micro economics. If you have a text, see marginal utility and marginal cost.
Last edited by magicjay38; 2005-10-12 1:43 AM.
