For decades, most of the world's leading economies have been growing at an ever-slower pace. Worse, many of the economies that have so far managed to avoid such a slowdown are also facing the prospect of a decline in their economic growth. How did the global economy reach this point? Why has economic growth trended downwards in the final decades of 20th century and the first decades of the 21st century. If this trend continues, what does this mean for our planet, human civilization and the health and prosperity of future generations?
In The Coming Decline: A World Without Economic Growth, Michael Weidokal takes you on a journey spanning thousands of years to witness periods in human history in which long-term economic growth came to an end, analyzing why growth stopped and what the implications were for those historical societies. Drawing on a wealth of economic, demographic, geopolitical, environmental and technological insights, he explores how major long-term trends and developments are changing the global economy and making it harder to generate economic growth in the 21st century. Can this decline in economic growth be reversed? If so, how will we manage this? If not, can the modern world survive without the economic growth that has underpinned centuries of advancing living standards for much of the world?
Wide-ranging, thought-provoking and provocative, The Coming Decline combines history, economics, technology and much more to challenge many of the assumptions that we hold regarding the economy and its role in shaping our future.