The Story of “The Limits to Growth”

Abstract

The report The Limits to Growth was in many ways a breakthrough in the way the future was debated and analysed as far as the physical economy was concerned. The paper describes how the very title seems to have offended many people, leading a cohort of critics to reject the report as a doomsday report. A closer look at the critiques reveals, however, the most of it had no basis in the report, which so far have turned out to be surprisingly correct in it aggregated analyses. Recent awareness of the climate problems, combined with a worldwide financial crisis, have made the report's methodology and conclusions very relevant to reconsider.