Agricultural Economics, Department of
Cornhusker Economics
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Economic Growth, Degrowth, and the Environment
Date of this Version
11-4-2026
Document Type
Newsletter Issue
Citation
Cornhusker Economics, November 4, 2026
Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
Many commentators have pointed out that continued economic growth on a planet with finite resources may be unsustainable. Saito (2020), Attar (2025), and Kallis (2023), among many others, have argued for “degrowth” defined as a reduction in the size of the economy thought to be the only way to maintain a habitable planet. The real question is whether the processes driving technological innovation, circularity, or other mechanisms for decoupling growth from environmental harm can be accelerated sufficiently to avoid environmental collapse.