[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l QLN: Alternative Economics (fwd)
Forwarded message:
From bn301@freenet.carleton.ca Tue Feb 3 11:10:52 1998
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 1998 10:06:28 -0500
FROM: Caspar.Davis@igc.org
MIME-Version: 1.0
Message-ID: <34D73274.2FC4@istar.ca>
Organization: Symbiotics
Precedence: bulk
QLN: Alternative Economics
Reply-To: symbiot@istar.ca
Sender: bn301@freenet.carleton.ca
Subject: QLN: Alternative Economics
To: qln-network@igc.org
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; I)
FROM - Caspar Davis
QLN - Alternative Economics
Dear Friends,
This was posted to TOES'97 by Romesh Diwan, one of the few
economists whom I respect. It raises various important issues,
and I consider it well worth reading. Apologies for
cross-postings.
Caspar Davis
****************************************
STATE OF THE WORLD 1998 AND ESSENTIALITY OF
SWADESHI
ROMESH DIWAN
The Worldwatch Institute, specialized at looking the world from
environment perspective, publishes occasional papers, a
bimonthly magazine World Watch and every year a popular
book about the state of the world. Its latest, State of The World
1998, has just been released. Its thesis is that the world economy
has been growing well but at the high cost of environment
which is getting degraded and will not be able to sustain such
growth unless changes are made. It identified some changes that
make sense to its writers and through these offers a little hope.
The global output of goods and services in 1997 is estimated at
US$ 29 trillion; it has grown from $5 trillion in 1950. This is
reflected by GDP - Gross Domestic Product - type statistics.
Even though these numbers are not strictly comparable, they do
suggest the phenomena of high rate of growth in material output.
This growth comes from the extensive use of nature's resources.
Thus during the same period of 47 years,
* the grain consumption and lumber production has
increased three-fold,
* fossil fuel burning four-fold,
* fish catch five-fold and
* paper six-fold.
As a result, air and water pollution has multiplied several-fold.
There is now a new statistic GPI - Genuine Progress Index -
which also takes into consideration the environment costs. The
growth has now two sides. The positive side is reflected by GDP
that many outdated second wave - to use Alvin Toffler's phrase -
economists and columnists quote, brag and emphasize. The
negative side is represent by GPI estimates; available only
for a number of industrialized countries. While GDP estimate
leave one the impression that economy is growing, GPI informs
us that the country is sliding downwards and going backwards.
Given the way well meaning second- wave writers are
accustomed to think and write, its President, Lester Brown, in
his first essay, "Future of Growth" explains the untenability of
such growth through the commonsense idea of "lessons from
China". In his own words, "China is teaching us that the
western industrial development model is not viable for China or
the world as a whole, simply because there are not enough
resources." p.13. His wake up call is the surety of food scarcity:
Malthus revisited. Hence the need for change. And change is
articulated in the last chapter, 10, in terms of "building a new
economy."
In building a new economy, the question posed is: "what kind of
system would be ecologically sustainable? The answer is simple
- a system whose structure respects the limits, the carrying
capacity, of natural system. A sustainable economy is one
powered by renewable energy sources. It is also a reuse/recycle
economy. In its structure, it emulates nature, where one
organism's waste is another's sustenance." p.169. The ecological
principles are well known: use the income instead of the capital;
thereby the ecology remains undisturbed. Thus over the long
term, carbon emissions can't exceed carbon fixation, or soil
erosion can't exceed soil formation, or water pumping can't
exceed acquifer yields. It is this principle that argues in favor of
renewable resources being sustainable while non - renewables
are not.
Given this principle, the building of the new economy is easy. It
is based on two ideas: stabilize population, replace fossil-fuel
based economy by solar energy economy and develop a
reuse/recycling structure. Given their eurocentric bias, the
authors maintain that Europe has already moved far into the new
economy; their population is stabilized at 380 million people,
their grain consumption at 470 kilogram a year, and they are
now deeply committed to recycling. The problem now is that of
the other -underdeveloped - or Third World. All they need to do
is follow the European example.
The Worldwatch Institute researchers' conclusion, growth is not
sustainable, is not derived from GPI type analysis. Instead it is
drawn from the Malthusian argument, based on second wave
industrial society bias. This bias is predicated on the following
propositions:
(a) The material standard of living in the industrialized
countries defines good life. Growth of this materialistic
culture, based on science and technology, is good and
desirable.
(b) The global problem arises only if this material standard of
living is adopted by all other countries. Then there is a lack
of environmental resources. Globalism creates and elevates
it.
(c) The global problems are population growth and environment
- efficiency of production. These are the problems of
materially poor countries. Western Europe and USA have
the resources.
(d) These problems can, and will, be solved by science and
technology.
(e) Materially poor countries are independent. They are
responsible for these problems and need to solve these on
the basis of their own resources. Materially rich countries can
only help.
These are well meaning researchers. They may be unaware of
these assumptions implied in their analyses; after all, these
originate from their unconscious biases. However, once these
propositions are spelled out, one recognizes both fallacies and
limitations of these analyses and hence the triviality of the
solutions. Their conclusion, 'growth is not sustainable,' is
pertinent. At the most basic level, the reason is given by Pogo:
"We have seen the enemy, it is us.," or Ishmael, we have
become a "taker society." The problem arises from
the ideology that sanctifies greed - more is better- and
economism in the form of wealth, standard of living or GDP,
scientific and technological production, efficiency, consumerism,
etc.; i.e. propositions (a), (b) and (d). Because of this ideology,
there is a misidentification, both of the problem, proposition (c)
and its solution in (e).
There is a need for alternative ideas. That is where Gandhi and
his concept of swadeshi becomes essential. A down-to-earth
Gandhian recently wrote about export oriented growth ideology
in India, "People are locked up in a 'golden cage.'..Bharatiyia
civilization places emphasis on life, forests, simplicity, labor,
contentment and cooperation. What we are hankering after
today promotes laziness, dishonesty, consumption, jealousy,
competition and exploitation?.. The foreign exchange madness
and export based economy can not bail out a nation with a
heritage of a great civilization like Bharat." [Jagdish Shah,
"Keeping Up with The News" Bhumiputra .November 1, 1994.
Original in Gujarati. Translation by Ashvin Shah]
Worldwatch researchers, bewitched by economic arguments,
concentrate only on supply. They have missed demand; equally,
even more, relevant. One has to first identify, what is good life. I
have argued that there are two types of affluences defined by (i)
consumption of private material goods, and (ii) relationships of
care and love. Upto a point they are complimentary but very
soon develop a negative relationship; the more material goods
one has, the less caring relations there are. Good life can't be
defined by material goods alone. In fact ignoring (ii) creates a
false dichotomy between " developed" and "developing"
countries. This distortion has done a great damage to the quality
of life in materially rich countries and been a major source of
global ecological and human problems.
There is a growing recognition in the US about the negative
relationship between quality human relations and material
wealth. In fact this recognition has changed the American Indian
from a savage to a sage. The Canadian government has now
apologized to the Canadian Indians. Immigrant Australians are
reexamining their abuse of aborigines whose sagacity is now
visible. New cultural forces like "simplicity movement", "life
style downscaling" and "cashing out" are sparking "amenity
migration." More and more people are adopting "voluntary
simplicity." Many scholars now consider it to be the fastest
growing trend in the US and Western societies. Yet this is part
of the fundamentals of the oldest Indian and Chinese
civilizations; these ideas are alive even today. Gandhians
articulate this idea of a good life in the concept of aprigraha
which combines two themes: "enough" and "caring for others."
Unless, the industrial societies accept such a definition of good
life and develop policies to promote it, any solution to the global
ecological problem will remain an illusion.
The fact that demand is important does not, in any way, reduce
the significance of supply. State of The World 1998 makes
meaningful analysis by pointing out that growth of material
commodities took place through "dirty" fossil fuel based
centralized technologies, because of its political clout. However,
their alternative solutions are based on other centralized
technologies. By contrast, swadeshi implies decentralized
"cleaner" technologies using renewable resources. There is now
ample evidence that it is a meaningful substitute. These cleaner
technologies can be used through "dispersed industrialization"
[K.R. Datye, Banking on Biomass, Center for Economic
Education, Ahmedabad. 1997] To satisfy water needs, Ashvin
Shah has developed an alternative to the ecologically disastrous
Narmda dam. Substituting vast investments for concrete
highways to information highways, more relevant in the
information age, reduces carbon emission and earns foreign
exchange. By following appropriate swadeshi economic policies
that promote such technologies, the world can resolve the
looming ecological disaster and India can gain leadership.
Romesh Diwan, Professor of Economics
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180
diwanr@rpi.edu
-----------------
Mark Jowett
The QLN Network
25 Gilmour Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K2P 0N1
Tel: (613) 594-8503
Fax: (613) 569-7512
e-mail: symbiot@istar.ca
QLN Network:
http://www.transform.org/transform/qln/index.html