Happiness When Growth Is Weak

• Author: Roger R. Betancourt
• Pages: 57-57

June 2018 | FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT 57

BOOK REVIEWS

Happiness When

Growth Is Weak

WEALTH DOES NOT

bring happiness, according to

the Easterlin Paradox. R apid economic growth

allows people to think t his might be so, but when

growth turns we ak and wealth decreases for ma ny,

the illusion is shattered. e Inf‌inite De sire for

Growth, by renowned French economist Daniel

Cohen, aims to oer an alternat ive to this outcome.

In the rst part of hi s book, Cohen examines the

origin of growth in terms of m illennia rather than

centuries or decades. In a cre ative but somewhat

speculative way, he associates the origin of grow th

with the beginni ng of agriculture in far apart geo-

graphic locations and with the population expan-

sions that followed as a result. A watershed moment

occurred at the tur n of the 17th century as the

scientic revolution began to replace religion with

the idea of material progress, generating modern

economic growth throug h the industrial revolution.

is event Cohen associates implicitly with the

emergence of a permanent desire for rapid growth.

e most innovative and thought-provoking

segment of the book is its middle. Titled “e

Future, the Future!” it presents a coherent argument

for weak growth in t he future. Start ing from an

overview of forthcoming tec hnological advance s,

it raises the possibility of per petual growt h. Yet a

cloud hangs over this paradise: the possible elim-

ination of midd le-class jobs.

Rain begin s to fall throug h a thorough discus-

sion of Robert Gordon’s questioning of the depth

of modern inventions’ eect on mass welfare. It

intensies with a mechanical display of how a

very productive, fu lly automated goods-producing

sector alongside a highly inecient ser vices sector

yields lower growth and rising inequality for the

economy as a whole. is abstraction is broadly

consistent with some features of developed econ-

omies in theories advanced by such prominent

economists as Willia m Baumol, omas Piketty,

and Lawrence Summers. e seg ment concludes

by arguing th at the failure—because of collec tive

action problems—to halt global wa rming will

prevent rapidly growing developing economies

from doing anything about the weak economic

growth generated by advanced e conomies.

e last part of the book is a n unconvincing

attempt at dealing with wea k economic growth’s

implications for well-being. Cohen argues t hat an

acceptable level of happiness is achievable only

if societies hit by weak economic growt h are

transformed. is t ransformation would have to

be profound as it requires new attitudes toward

material progress, work, and hiera rchy.

Furthermore, key argu ments are based on data

from the United Nations World Happiness Report,

which implies reliance on a relative mea surement of

happiness to draw conclusions about absolute levels

of well-being. e French may on average score low

on happiness, but it is hard to convince me that

their well-being is the same a s that of people in

most African or C entral America n and Caribbean

countries—e ven if their average happiness scores

are the same or simila r.

I found the initial par t of the book interesting

and the middle part e xcellent and enjoyable to read,

whether or not I agreed with its arguments. e

book’s nal section, by contrast, w as a letdown.

ROGER R. BETANCOURT, professor emeritus of economics,

University of Maryland

Daniel Cohen

The Inf‌inite Desire

for Growth

Princeton University Press,

Princeton, NJ, 2018, 184 pp., $24.95

A cloud hangs over this paradise:

the possible elimination of

middle-class jobs.