I recently attended a breakfast of business executives, hosted by the local chamber of commerce. All lamented the lack of economic growth in the community, particularly the lack of growth in tax revenues to support public services. Similar conversations play out across upstate New York and the Midwest, where cities have lost their industrial base and the best talent has moved away.
The articulated solution—bring in more people. Now as a plumber, the Chair of this meeting probably sees this as reasonable. More people means more houses to build, more toilets to fix, and a higher income. But, is that real growth?
In the long term, I would argue that economic growth based solely on population growth is hollow. What we need to pursue is growth in quality of life—not more people, but people living better. A focus on quality of life is a focus on education, innovation, research, and development.
A vibrant, sustainable steady-state economy doesn’t divide up a limited resource base among increasing numbers—instead it affords each productive citizen a higher quality of life while extracting less from the natural environment. And a basic tenet for quality of life is clean air and clean water. Nurture a healthy environment and business will come.
This fall, when candidates are debating how to stimulate our sluggish economy, pay attention to what they are really promoting. And choose growth in quality, not growth simply based on more people in your community and the nation.
Photo, taken on July 17, 2012, courtesy of University of the Fraser Valley via Flickr.