Unit Eight

Economic Growth is a Path toPerdition, Not Prosperity

Period 3-4: Text comprehension

I. Background information

1. The author

Wayne Ellwood is an editorial and feature writer for NewInternationalist, where this article was first published in October 2010, entitledNature’s Bottom Line. Wayne Ellwoodstarted as an editor with New Internationalist magazine in 1977. He haswritten on a wide variety of topics, most recently editing issues on freetrade, privatization and transitional justice. He worked as an associateproducer with the BBC television series, Global Report, and has alsoedited the reference book, The A to Z of World Development. His otherarticles include: Redesigning the GlobalEconomy, The World Trading System is Corrupt and Unjust, The No-nonsense Guideto Globalization, Life Beyond Growth, etc.

An excerpt from Life Beyond Growth:

      “The globaleconomy is again grinding to a halt while ordinary people take the hit. Theghost of the Great Depression of the 1930s hovers in the wings. So what’s thesolution? Growth. A growing economy equals more jobs, rising incomes, peace andprosperity. Without growth the system would collapse. Get growth back on trackand everything will be OK. That’s the theory. But no-one is talking about the biggest dilemma of all: economic growth may not be the cure but the source of the problem. After all we live on a finite planet with limited resources. How can we expect to grow forever?”

 

2. the Church of England

It is the state religion in England, which separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. Its priests can marry, its official leader is the King or Queen, and its most important priest is the Archbishop of Canterbury. Members of theChurch of England are called “Anglicans.”

The Established Church

The Church of England is the established church, meaning, amongst other things: the Monarch is the Supreme Governor of the church (theologically Jesus is thehead), the Church performs a number of official functions, Church and State arelinked.

History

The Church of England traces its roots back to the early church, but its specifically Anglican identity and its links to the State date back to the Reformation.

Henry VIII started the process of creating the Church of England after his split with the Pope in the 1530s. Henry was anxious to ensure a male heir after his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had borne him only a daughter. He wanted his marriage annulled in order to remarry. In 1534 after several attempts to persuade the Pope to grant an annulment, Henry passed the Act of Succession and then the Act of Supremacy. These recognized that the King was “the only supreme head of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia”. Henry adopted thetitle given to him by the Pope in 1521, that of Defender of the Faith.

 3. System of National Accounts

The United Nations System of National Accounts (oftenabbreviated as “SNA” or “UNSNA”) is an international standard system of national accounts, the first international standard being published in1953. The aim of UNSNA is to provide an integrated, complete system accounts enabling international comparisons of all significant economic activity. Thesuggestion is that individual countries use UNSNA as a guide in constructing their own national accounting systems, to promote international comparability.

4. Herman Daly (1938– )

Herman Daly (1938– ) is an American ecological economist and professor at the Universityof Maryland. He was senior economist in the Environment Department of the WorldBank, where he helped to develop policy guidelines related to sustainabledevelopment. He is closely associated with theories of a steady state economy. He is widely credited with having originated the idea of uneconomic growth.

5. Keynesian economics 

A school of economic thought founded by the UK economist John MaynardKeynes (1883-1946) and developed by his followers. In 1936, at theheight of the great depression, Keynes’ landmark book  The General Theory ofEmployment, Interest And Money caused a paradigm shiftfor economics: it suddenly replaced their emphasis on study of theeconomic behavior of individuals and companies (microeconomics)to the study of the behavior of the economy as a whole(macroeconomics).  

Keynesian economists urge and justify agovernment’s intervention in the economy through publicpolicies that aim to achieve full employment and pricestability. Their ideas have greatly influenced governments theworld-over in accepting their responsibility to provide full or near-fullemployment through measures (such as deficit spending) thatstimulate aggregate demand.

6. Understand GDP.

Definition: GDP percapita is a measurement of how prosperous a country feels to each ofits citizens. To understand the definition of GDP per capita, you first need tounderstand GDP, which is short for Gross Domestic Product. GDP iseverything that a country’s economy produces in a year. GDP per capita takes acountry’s production, as measured by GDP, and divides it by the country’s totalpopulation. Hence, it is the output of a country’s economy per person.

 

Ten Highest GDP per Capita

The mostprosperous country per person is Qatar - its GDP per capita is $103,900. Theother countries/regions in the Top Ten are: Liechtenstein -- $89,400

Bermuda-- $86,000                Macau -- $82,400

Luxembourg-- $80,700          Monaco -- $70,700

Singapore-- $61,400               Jersey -- $57,000

Norway-- $55,900        Falkland Islands -- $55,900

II. Structure analysis

Theme: Argument

   Economic growth vs. enviromental protection

   Economic growth vs. social equality andwell-being

   The GDP-driven test (GDP is everything) in China(news: Stop Cramming: City Cancels GDP-driven Test)

Compared with the Biblical myth of creation Darwinhad long fought against, there is a modern dangerous myth about economicgrowth. The cause of the myth is rooted in capitalism and statistics of therapid growth. Economic growth leads to lots of disasters, such as exhaust ofnatural resources, decline of ecology, continued inequality between rich andpoor countries, etc. The mission of humanity, therefore, is to change the wayas it is.

Structure

I. Introduction: economic growth is our great sustaining myth. (para. 1-4)

II. Economic growth cannot be the solution to ourproblems, but source of our problems (para. 5-25)

A. We are tooreliant on growth; yet growth is the core of capitalism. (para. 5–11)

B. Economic growthis sustained at the price of the environment and our finite resources. (para. 12-21)

C. Economic growth does not lead to social equalityor well-being, but an excuse for continued inequality between rich and poorcountries (para. 22–25)

III. Conclusion:we can change our idea and the fate of the earth is dependent on it. (para. 26-29)

 

 

III. Comprehensionquestions:

1. Part I (Para. 1–4):

    Why does the author start thearticle with Darwin and his book?

    What do you know about Darwin’s“long battle”?

    What was the myth that stymiedcritical thought before Darwin’s breakthrough?

    What did the author mean when hesaid that we are trapped in the same sort of false illusion? What is thatillusion? Do you agree? Why or why not?

 Economicgrowth is a more dangerous and more deeply rooted myth enveloping us.

2. Part II (Para. 5–25):

    How is growth traditionallymeasured? Isn’t GDP a good enough tool for this measurement?

    What’s wrong when people say thatgrowth equals prosperity and jobs, and growth equals progress? What else can itmean?

    What kind of problems can resultfrom our reliance on GDP?

    Can we solve these problemsthrough further scientific and technological developments?

3. PartIII (Para. 26–29):

    Can we give up the idea of economicgrowth altogether?

    What do you think is a healthyattitude toward the relationship between nature and man?

    What is the author’s answer to theproblem? Does he take an optimistic attitude or otherwise on this issue?

 

More for discussion:

ØDo you agree with the author that“economic growth was a mere blip” ? Why or why not?

ØThe author says that “endlessaccumulation and expansion is the core of capitalism”. Then how do youunderstand what producers did in the Depression in the US about 80 years agowhen they poured tons of milk into the river instead of selling it?

ØDo you agree that “human activityis putting such a heavy strain on earth’s natural functions that the ability ofthe planet’s ecosystems to sustain human endeavor can no longer be taken forgranted”? If so, please illustrate and if not, please present yourcounter-argument.

ØCO2 emission and global warminghas both been hailed and challenged by scientists. What do you know about itand are you convinced by the author’s reasoning in the text?