An economy of enough?
While in Holland I heard that the Dutch are no longer reclaiming more land. They have enough for now: for their population and for the food they produce. As a country it does not feel squished; they have enough space.
In Canada, the current thinking is that immigration will save us (and our investments and economy) as our birthrate is too low to do so (around 2 which is only replacement rate). We need immigration because our economy depends on growth; if there is no growth, investors and analysts are concerned.
I heard in Holland about a town: ‘There are enough jobs for the people here’. Is the economy there set up differntly than in Canada? What is the difference? Do they have enough critical mass (culture, thought, social systems, goals) to not have/need a growth economy, but an economy of enough? My experience with growth economies is that they destroy the environment and are not sustainable.
I hope to read a book by Jane Jacobs called “The Nature of Economies”. It discusses looking at nature and basing our economy on what we see there. Her theories might help to delve into this issue further.
Comments(1)
That is very fascinating…the concept of enough is very counter cultural here. I don’t think enough is ever enough! Hopefully you can do a review or some reflections on that book…nature definitely has it figured out!