The Imperative of Economic Growth Is Arbitrarily Constraining

Governments routinely treat continual growth in per capita consumption as a standing imperative. I argue that doing so arbitrarily constrains our policy choices. Descriptively, I use the case of growth in climate change policy to show that despite the common emphasis on the ways growth expands our capabilities and consumption opportunities, the pursuit of growth also limits us. Normatively, I argue that these constraints are arbitrary. A justified constraint must identify the interests it serves, so that we can ask whether they are weighty enough to warrant the limitations it would impose. A principle requiring each generation to exceed the consumption of the last cannot supply that information. At best, growth can serve as a proxy for our underlying intergenerational obligations, and only under conditions that may no longer hold in wealthy societies.