PETER A. VICTOR

The author challenges the priority that rich countries continue to give to economic growth as an overarching objective of economic policy. The challenge is based on a critical analysis of the literature on environmental and resource limits to growth, on the disconnect between higher incomes and happiness, and on the failure of economic growth to meet other key economic social and environmental policy objectives.

This book presents 3 arguments on why rich countries should turn away from economic growth as the primary policy objective and pursue more specific objectives that enhance well-being. The author contends that continued economic growth worldwide is unrealistic due to environmental and resource constraints. If rich countries continue to push growth, poorer countries, where the benefits are more evident, will lag. Rising incomes increase happiness and well-being only up to a level that has since been surpassed in rich countries. Moreover, economic growth has not brought full employment, eliminated poverty, or reduced the burden of the economy on the environment. By combining a systems approach with more conventional economic analysis, the author provides new insights into a pressing issue at the frontier of ecological economics in a way that will appeal to a wide audience.