ABSTRACT
“Growth” is a harmless neutral concept meaning merely “a growing” or “an increase.” 1 If growth meant an increase in well-being in terms of an agreed-upon criterion of well-being, it could hardly be opposed. Objections to growth must refer to the increase of particular magnitudes—in population, GNP, or power consumption—that cause negative growth of well-being according to some criterion. What is really objected to, then, is negative or uneconomic growth according to certain concepts of social welfare.
