I don't think our economy is predicated on growth, because no one's in charge of it. What has sustained that? Is it decades, or is it centuries, before we start to press against the limits of the planet? The deeper intellectual question for me is how might we cope with whatever comes in the wake of that re reset when growth is not available? I want to talk a little bit about that, give you my take on it, and then you can respond there.
Of all the scenarios that keep astrophysicist Sandra Faber up at night, it's not the Earth's increasing volcanism, the loss of photosynthesis, or even the impact of a massive asteroid. Rather, it's the collapse she's certain will result from the unbridled growth of the world's economies. Join Faber and EconTalk host Russ Roberts as they explore what the most inexorable law of physics has to do with economics and whether the world's growing economies pose a problem or provide the solution for the finiteness of planet Earth.