Can we really grow the economy forever? – with Daniel Susskind

Every party promises a growing economy as a solution for everything – but can economic expansion carry on forever? On a planet with finite resources, can growth really be infinite? Ros Taylor talks to Daniel Susskind, economic professor and author of Growth: A History and a Reckoning, about the mystery of economic growth, what “degrowthers” want, and how to balance the pros and cons of an ever-expanding economy. 

• “Economic growth feels like it’s a permanent fixture, and yet for most of history there was no growth at all. Modern economic growth only really began about 200-250 years ago.” – Daniel Susskind 

• “One of the great mysteries in economics is that we actually know surprisingly little about the process of economic growth.” – Daniel Susskind 

• “One thing degrowthers get wrong is this idea that we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. I think we CAN have effectively infinite growth.” – Daniel Susskind 

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Written and presented by Ros Taylor. Producer: Eliza Davis Beard. Audio editor: Robin Leeburn. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Music by Kenny Dickinson and artwork by James Parrett. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production. 

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