Attribute Table
Attribute |
Growth Society |
Steady State Society |
Economic Philosophy |
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Primary Concept |
Scarcity |
Scarcity |
Attitude to Scarcity |
Conflict |
Acceptance |
Purpose of Production |
Consumption |
Maintenance |
Emphasis on Production |
Productivity |
Distribution |
Timescale Horizon |
Narrow |
Wide |
Incentive for Work |
Income for consumption |
Satisfaction |
Typical Attitude to Work |
Necessary imposition |
Accepted part of life |
Work and Leisure |
Differentiated |
Little difference |
Place of Humankind in Ecosystem |
Domination |
Participatory |
Population |
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Typical Annual Growth Rate of Natural Population |
2.0 % |
Ideally average 0% |
Doubling Time |
36 Years |
No doubling time with zero net immigration |
Age Composition Profile |
Triangular |
Cylindrical |
Total Fertility |
Global peak of 5.10 in 1964 declining to 2.44 in 2016 |
Approx. 2.11 |
Time to Re-stabilise |
70 years |
Already stable |
Net Reproduction Rate |
Global peak of 1.892 (1965-1970) declining to 1.099 (2015-2020) Dependent on death rate |
1 000 |
Family Structure |
Nuclear family |
Extended family |
Urbanisation |
High (80%) |
Lower (20-40 %?) |
Capital Stock |
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Durability |
Low |
High |
Maintenance Energy Cost |
High |
Low |
Recycling |
Limited |
Optimised within inevitable dissipation and energy constraints |
Creation of New Capital Stock |
A large proportion of new capital stock is additional capital stock using additional materials |
New capital stock is replacement capital stock. Materials of old capital stock are recycled within above constraints |
Energy Production |
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Source |
Energy stock |
Energy flow |
Limits of Production |
Peaking (maximum rate of extraction) and inevitable EROI decline to 1.0 |
Level of technology and availability of key scarce minerals invested in viable renewable energy sources |
Permanence of Source |
Non-renewable |
Renewable over medium time scale, but ultimately long-term technological decline as minerals dissipate |
Level of Pollution |
High Pollution |
Low Pollution |
Pattern of Energy Flow |
Increasing then decline |
Slow decline due to inevitable slow dissipation of materials and limits of recycling unless less abrupt fall precipitated by economic shock |
Consumption |
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Pattern per Capita |
Increasing per capita |
Constant per capita with minor fluctuations |
Goods and Services Consumption |
Unnecessary consumption |
Necessary consumption |
Tertiary Sector |
Large tertiary sector |
Small tertiary sector – self sufficiency |
Distribution of Consumption |
Unequal distribution |
Equal distribution |
Wastage |
High wastage |
Low wastage |
Industrial Production |
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Pollution |
Heavy pollution |
Light or no pollution |
Energy Consumption |
High energy consumption |
Low energy consumption |
Technological Accidents |
Frequent and serious |
Infrequent and insignificant |
Type of Processes |
Complicated |
Comprehensible and ideally locally supported |
Impact on other Life Forms |
Widespread destruction of other life forms |
Participatory dependence on other life forms as an integral part of a healthy ecosystem and associated energy flow |
Risk of Processes |
Ecologically dangerous |
Ecologically adapted |
Organisation of Production |
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Concentration of Production |
Centralised |
Decentralised within communities |
Interdependency of Production |
High interdependence, long supply chains |
More self-sufficiency, shorter supply chains |
Size of Productions Units |
Large production units |
Smaller production units |
Specialisation of Production |
High specialisation, emphasis on mass production |
Low specialisation, emphasis on artisanship |
Use of Science & Technology |
Science and technology practised by specialist elite with high risk of unintended consequences |
Science and technology practised by all using more appropriate, benign technology |
Use of Capital, Energy, and Labour |
Capital and energy intensive |
More labour intensive |
Food Production |
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Type of Agricultural System |
Monoculture and uniformity |
Permaculture and diversification |
Participation in food production |
Industrialised production by large farm units |
Production of food involves every family |
Factors of production |
Energy and capital intensive |
More labour-intensive |
Use of Fertilisers |
Artificial fertilisers |
Natural fertilisers |
Use of animals |
Animals used primarily as food source |
Animals perhaps used again for mechanical energy value |
Impact on soil |
Erosion and depletion |
Replenishment |
EROEI |
Low < 1.0 |
High > 10 |
Control of pests |
Dangerous pesticides used |
Ecological techniques used |
Environmental Protection |
Largely treated as a “nice to have” and source and sink, often as an “externality” to the market |
Environmental integrity and ecosystem services become increasingly important as the support for the economy and as material resources contract |