Steady state economics

Part I of this volume is a positive, expository development of the idea of a steady-state economy. What is it? Why is it both necessary and desirable? Why is it efficient? How could it be attained starting from historically given initial conditions? Part I constructively sets forth the thesis as clearly as possible, without getting sidetracked by polemics.

The antithesis of the steady-state economy is the growth economy, which is still defended by a large majority of economists and politicians. Part II enters the polemics of the growth debate, seeking to clear the road to the steady state of the detritus of obfuscations, non sequiturs, and assorted other fallacies, and to defend the steady-state view from the loud but badly aimed cannonades of the partisans of the current growth economy. The aim of Part II is enlighten ment through controversy. Controversy is most enlightening when dealing with the specific views of specific people. Hence I have named names and cited works, rather than argued against an unspecified aggregate "progrowth critic," who could easily turn into a straw man. It would be easy to lump divergent progrowth arguments into one conglomerate and then expose this composite position to criticism and to ridicule the inconsistencies that naturally result when different positions are merged and treated as if the merger had been the product of a single mind. Leaving individuals anonymous usually passes as scholarly abhorrence of polemics. More often, the merciful anonymity granted toward one's soon-to-be vanquished adversary is nothing but a lazy preference for debating mute straw men rather than real people. Therefore, I hope that my disagreements with specific spokesmen of economic orthodoxy will not be thought of as ad hominem attacks or as implying any disrespect for the specific individuals cited as representatives of standard economics.