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 "When Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes," by ecological economist, Herman Daly

These Green Tips come from an article,  "When Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes," by ecological economist, Herman Daly. Daly explains how some highly distinguished economists have made egregious mistakes about climate change because they were blinded by their belief that economic growth is always good, and so, more of it must be better, always.

Economist, William Nordhaus, a 2018 Nobel prize recipient, believes that, “Agriculture, the part of the economy that is sensitive to climate change, accounts for just 3% of national output (GDP). That means there is no way to get a very large effect on the US economy from climate change.”  (Oh my.)

A major conclusion of so called “free-market” economic theory is: do whatever it takes to grow GDP.  In a famous 1991 paper titled, “To Slow or Not to Slow,” Nobel prize economist, William Nordhaus, argued firmly for the latter option. He says, “Let’s not be too eager to slow down global warming, because we don’t want to jeopardize GDP growth.”  (Growth idolatry?)

Oxford University economist, Wilfred Beckerman, says, in his book, Small is Stupid, “climate change is no worry because it affects only agriculture and even if agricultural output fell by 50% by the end of this century, this is only a 1.5% cut in GDP.”   He is saying that even if people had half the food they needed, they still could produce everything else!

“Free-market” economists, committed to growing GDP, believe, “if climate breakdown ends up starving and displacing a few hundred million poor Africans and Asians, that will register as only a tiny negative blip in world GDP. After all, poor people don’t add much value to the global economy. The same goes for things like insects and birds and wildlife.”  (I’m not making this up.)

“When William Nordhaus received the 2018 Nobel prize in economics, he admonished his students: Don’t let this distract you from the work at hand, which is economic growth.”  The religious-like belief in economic growth which seems to have blinded these distinguished economists – as it has done to many politicians – would be humorous if it were not so frightening and destructive.

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John McDonald

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Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Duluth, MN

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