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Location: Macroeconomics Unit IV and V - Inflation, Unemployment, and Economic Growth
Discussion: Is there such thing as too much growth?
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kl_0511 |
20. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 13 2008, 2:40 AM EDT
I agree that there are negative effects to economic growth. However, like what everyone else has said stopping growth is definitely the wrong solution. Growth has allowed governments reduce pollution, society to be more sensitive to our environment, set aside wilderness, create national parks, clean up hazardous waste and at the same time enable rising household incomes.
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dayzrox |
21. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 13 2008, 6:19 AM EDT
"Follow the middle way" said almost all sages. I guess they're right. Too much of anything is deleterious. The same applies to the side-effects of economic growth such as inflation. However, it is important to point out that the negative side-effects do not stem from economic growth itself, but the consequences they bring. Thus, as all of my classmates mentioned, stopping growth is not the solution to the negative externalities such as inflation and rising resource prices. A more plausible and logical solution would be to utilize a mild contractionary policy. Also, there are the opulent and the indigent in all nations. Instead of viewing those who live near poverty line as undergoing "negative" effects of economic growth and consequently stopping economic growth, one should seek to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor by slowly raising the living standards of nearly all citizens.
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mrdaily |
22. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 13 2008, 7:32 AM EDT
Of course economic growth can have negative side effects as seen in the Chinese economy. The environmental problems it can create range from pollution to ozone depletion to poverty. As economic growth continues, we continue to use up the resources on the planet. However, economic growth gives people a better life plain and simple; the list of benefits of economic growth outweighs the negative effects by a tremendous deal. Quite frankly, although economic growth can create certain problems, it fixes many more.
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jlau21 |
23. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 13 2008, 8:43 AM EDT
Too much growth can definitely be a bad thing. Like you mentioned, there are many negative externalities that come along with economic growth such as pollution and global warming. In addition, as economies continue to grow at accelerating speeds, resources are depleting. Although natural resources won't run out during our lifetime, we should sustain a rate of growth that improves our own lives as well as the lives of future generations.
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ma.sheng.lun |
24. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 13 2008, 10:36 AM EDT
I agree with everyone that too much growth is bad for the country. I agree with Michael about how because of so much growth, China has suffered many of its negative externalities. Such as pollution, water poisoning and more. But that is the cost for China to be growing faster than any other country. India too. I hope Jon is right that natural resources won't run out in our lifetime. But if economic growth should create some kind of alternative fuel. You never know what people will event. Who knew there was going to be internet 100 years ago. Growth has its good side, where it creates new technological advances.
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claire425 |
25. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 13 2008, 5:53 PM EDT
I agree with Kevin's idea that natural resources would not run out in our lifetime, and people would always find an alternative way to fill out the shortages. Also, about everyone's idea that oo much growth can be harmful creating too much negative externalities such as envrionmental pollution. BUT, since the natural resources are never going to run out, it is pretty sure that there could be such thing as too much growth. It is just that it will not happen limited to one country or one area, but it will constantly happen throughout the whole universe. What about China? I think China can be a good example of infinite growth for some time period, but as I said, it wont be happening to a specific place only, therefore, in a limited place it might be possible that it halters a bit in growth.
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mina.song |
26. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 14 2008, 2:11 PM EDT
I think most of the people here agrees that too much growth is bad for the country. I agree with that economically, but I think some times rapid growth could bring up the economy even though that country could suffer for several years. In the past in Korea, they had really rapid growth in late 1800s but because of that korea has suffered IMF for 5 years, but now that growth maintains and even it is growing more over that growth, I think we can't say that rapid growth is always wrong.
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CalebLiao |
27. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 20 2008, 10:42 AM EDT
How does that makes sense? You're saying, let us grow and hurt the environment just so that we can turn around and say "hey! look at the environment, we're hurting it." Yet while it raises this awareness and calls for people to return the environment to its previous state, its previous state in unattainable, therefore you're saying, lets grow, hurt the environment, look back and talk about how how much we've hurt it, and try to return it to a somewhat similar way we had it before we grew. Awareness is a good thing that is only necessary if something bad is happening. Why should we hurt the environment and provoke awareness where it should be provoked in the first place?
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drewvenkatraman |
28. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Apr 21 2008, 9:24 AM EDT
Yes too much growth creates diseconomies of scale. If you left hand doesn't know what your right is doing it can lead to serious problems down the road. I believe that too much growth can occur and this can lead to a country to actually proceed backwards by losing its own infrastructure
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FabienneB |
29. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Nov 23 2008, 8:19 AM EST
First of all what is "too much"? There are "description" or "normative" statements. A description is for example the floor is brown, but a normative statement is the wall is beautiful. If I say the wall is beautiful, doesn't mean, that an other person thinks that the wall is beautiful too. The same with what is too much, it's a normative statement. If there's a growht for example for 3%, that's a description so it's a lot easier to define. But who affects too much growth? If there are too many resources used it would affect the nature. Or lets say suddenly people have more children than they used to have so it's a 10% growth. Which means, these people suddenly need more cars leading to more gas use. It might only be a little demand change, but usually little demand changes have a huge price increase and that affects everyone. The industry needs time to react for that so there won't be a change in the price for a many years. Too much growth at place A could lead to a negative growth at a different place B. A different point is for example: in 1990 or 1991 Russia had a huge economic growth but it only affected a few people, but it didn't affect the normal class at all. This led to a social tension. Do you find this valuable? |
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mkaga |
30. RE: Is there such thing as too much growth?
Dec 16 2008, 6:33 AM EST
Too much growth definitely causes problems in the economy. A growth of an economy leads to a high GDP which most likely leads to inflation. The value of the money goes down. Another point is that big companies get bigger and bigger and people invest more money in it than the company’s actual value. That causes a bubble and an economical crash. This is all theoretical but it happened several times in the future. There are also good points like lower unemployment rates but all in all too much growth is not good.
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