Notes on the Social Limits to Growth

Abstract

These notes are intended to pose more questions than they provide answers to. They are prompted by an important book, the Social Limits to Growth, published by a lifelong socialist, Fred Hirsch (1977) the year before he died; and they draw on three stimulating and challenging reviews of Hirsch’s work: the first by Robin Matthews (1977); the second by Anthony Clunies Ross (1977) in a review article of Hirsch’s book and Hugh Stretton’s (1976) Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment; and the third by Don Lamberton (1977). As I have said, Hirsch was always a socialist; moreover, he knew an incredible amount about the detailed workings of the financial institutions of modern capitalist economies. I believe that his views should be accorded respect and that they are of great relevance to those of us who are thinking about the nature of economic growth and the role it has to play in the transition to a more just and equitable society.

Originally published in Economic Forum, Summer 1981, 1–8. This paper was presented at the Conference of Labor Economists, Brisbane, Australia, May 1978.