Discuss whether we should stop growth because of the costs. - page 1
Keywords: Growth, Costs, Benefits, UK
By 4stuchfi on 01/10/2008
Level: A Level (Year 13)
Page Number: 1 of 2 pages: 1 2
There are both advantages and disadvantages to growth so should we stop it? The UK’s economy for example has been growing gradually throughout its history; one of the biggest and most important advantages of this is the money that is generated. The growth and money generated will in turn increase income; the measure by which income will increase depends on the growth rate. If the economy was growing at 10% then people’s incomes could be expected to double every 7 years. These increases in income can in turn prosper people in all walks of their lives. For example the more people are earning the less ‘absolute poverty’ there will be, which is of course a very good thing meaning that citizens can enjoy their lives more and live in better and better conditions. That advantage can also be linked with another advantage of growth, life expectancy has increased greatly and infant mortality rates have decreased. Obviously if a better standard of living is available it will keep people healthier and raise the life expectancy and at the same time decrease infant mortality by cutting the number of diseases that can be caught. Other major killer that used to be around before rapid growth was malnutrition and under nutrition, however now there is plenty of food and water so under nutrition mortality rates have plummeted and the food is of a better quality and so malnutrition is rarer. However some of this money generated by the growth will be invested into education, which is why almost every person in the United Kingdom is literate. This is a very big advantage as it contains a spiral effect, as people become better educated they earn more money and the more money that is made the more money that is available to be invested back into education. These advantages therefore show that we should not stop growth, however there are disadvantages to growth as well.
Bearing in mind that incomes have increased, the questions needs to be asked is this because of the growing economy or just because more people are working, for example women now work but didn’t used to. Some economists also believe that most of our ‘economic growth’ has come from placing monetary values on objects that used to have no value. A disadvantage of a growth is that more and more people are needed to work, if almost all men and women
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