ABSTRACT
THERE may be no change in beliefs in recent times more striking than the change in attitude toward economic growth. Only a few years ago, right and left, old and young, rich and poor agreed that economic growth, as measured by rising per capita incomes, was altogether desirable; the great ideologies differed about what policies would best attain growth and on how its fruits should be shared. Economic growth remains a widely accepted goal, of course, but to many, a growth of national or per capita income has become an ambiguous blessing, and to a few a noisome evil. Legions of undergraduates have called the GNP a measure of "Gross National Pollution," ecologists of all ages have denounced its side effects, and a journalistic book, The Limits to Growth, has made headlines (Meadows and coauthors, 1972).
