growth

In EE growth refers to the increase of >knowledge embodied in the >production of the economic system. The conventional definition of growth in terms of GDP per capita only scratches a surface phenomenon, as is evident, for example, in the long-rung comparison between the performance of the planned economies and the market economies in the 60s and 80s. Here, it was impossible to assess the the relation between measured growth and erosion of the capital stock (hence, knowledge) before the final loss of >viability.

Growth in terms of knowledge also means increasing complexity, which cannot be measured with a linear and one-dimensional scale. Of course, there is an interdependence between GDP and growth of complexity, with the most important factors being the long-run internalization of processes into the price system (e.g. internalization of environmental effects, commercialization of services etc.) and the growth of the stock of >capital. This observation also implies that GDP growth does not directly and necessarily coincide with increasing intensity of matter-enegry use and waste production, which is the major concern of ecology.

In that general sense, growth is the necessary result of >evolution because the forces of >variation, selection and retention always increase knowledge in a system, provided that there is a throughflow of >energy. Hence, the problem with growth is not its possible limits, but its >viability. From the viewpoint of EE, the economic policy issue of growth therefore is inextricably linked with the problem of sustainability and expansion of energy use in human societies. In all other terms, viability is directly dependent on knowledge.

An important consequence of EE is that growth cannot be equated with linear growth of consumption, because consumption is only a surface phenomenon of the more fundamental structure of needs operating in the continuous and endless process of >production.

Basic References
One of the most influential EE thinkers on growth is Herman Daly, who is a founder of the more radical approaches in ecological economics.
Beyond Growth : The Economics of Sustainable Development, Boston : Beacon Press, 1996
Ecological Economics
Interview with Herman Daly

Semantic Field
evolution
production
capital   growth   energy