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 New Internationalist, where this article was first published in October 2010, entitled Nature's Bottom Line. Wayne Ellwood started as an editor with New Internationalist magazine in 1977. He has written on a wide variety of topics, most recently editing issues on free trade, privatization and transitional justice. He worked as an associate producer with the BBC television series, Global Report, and has also edited the reference book, The A to Z of World Development. His other articles include: Redesigning the Global Economy, 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. The ghost 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 and prosperity. Without growth the system would collapse. Get growth back on track and 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 Arch bishop 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 the head), the Church performs a number of official functions, Church and State are linked.

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 the title 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 (often abbreviated 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. The suggestion 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 World Bank, where he helped to develop policy guidelines related to sustainable development. 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 Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) and developed by his followers. In 1936, at the height of the great depression, Keynes' landmark book  The General Theory of Employment, Interest And Money caused a paradigm shift for economics: it suddenly replaced their emphasis on study of the economic 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 price stability. Their ideas have greatly influenced governments theworld-over in accepting their responsibility to provide full or near-fullemployment through measures (such as deficit spending) that stimulate aggregate demand.

6. Understand GDP.

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

 

Ten Highest GDP per Capita

The most prosperous country per person is Qatar - its GDP per capita is $103,900. The other 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 and well-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 Darwin had long fought against, there is a modern dangerous myth about economic growth. The cause of the myth is rooted in capitalism and statistics of the rapid growth. Economic growth leads to lots of disasters, such as exhaust of natural resources, decline of ecology, continued inequality between rich and poor countries, etc. The mission of humanity, therefore, is to change the way as 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 too reliant on growth; yet growth is the core of capitalism. (para. 5–11)

   B. Economic grow this 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. Comprehension questions:

1. Part I (Para. 1–4):

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

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

    What was the myth that stymied critical 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 that illusion? Do you agree? Why or why not?

 Economic growth is a more dangerous and more deeply rooted myth enveloping us.

2. Part II (Para. 5–25):

    How is growth traditionally measured? Isn't GDP a good enough tool for this measurement?

    What's wrong when people say that growth 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 problems through further scientific and technological developments?

3. PartIII (Para. 26–29):

    Can we give up the idea of economic growth altogether?

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

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

 

More for discussion:

Ø Do you agree with the author that“economic growth was a mere blip" ? Why or why not?

Ø The author says that "endless accumulation and expansion is the core of capitalism". Then how do you understand what producers did in the Depression in the US about 80 years ago when they poured tons of milk into the river instead of selling it?

Ø Do you agree that "human activityis putting such a heavy strain on earth's natural functions that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain human endeavor can no longer be taken for granted"? If so, please illustrate and if not, please present your counter-argument.

Ø CO2 emission and global warming has both been hailed and challenged by scientists. What do you know about it and are you convinced by the author's reasoning in the text?