The Ultimate Resource / / Julian Lincoln Simon.

• VerfasserIn: Simon, Julian Lincoln,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2023]; ©1981
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (418 p.)

A lively answer to those who sound alarms about population growth and resource useThe Ultimate Resource challenges conventional beliefs about the scarcity of energy and natural resources, the pollution of the environment, and the perils of overpopulation for our standard of living. In this provocative book, Julian Lincoln Simon argues that natural resources are not finite in any meaningful way, and that using such resources now will not slow the rate of future economic growth. In the short run, all resources are limited. A greater use of any resource means pressure on its supply and hence an increased price. In the long run, however, history shows that human creativity overcomes natural obstacles to economic growth and leads to a lower cost and price than before. The ultimate resource, Simon contends, is the human imagination coupled to the human spirit.This timely book will fundamentally change how you think about a host of issues, from immigration and human fertility to forecasts of population change and the use of taxpayer dollars for population control. The Ultimate Resource demonstrates that the primary constraint on our national and world economic growth is our capacity for the creation of new ideas. The more people who can be trained to help solve the problems that confront us, the faster we might remove the obstacles, and the greater the economic inheritance we can bequeath to our descendants.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- INTRODUCTION. What Are the Real Population and Resource Problems? -- PART ONE. TOWARD OUR BEAUTIFUL RESOURCE FUTURE -- CHAPTER 1. The Amazing Theory of Raw-Material Scarcity -- CHAPTER 2. Do Technological Forecasts and Economic Forecasts Necessarily Contradict Each Other? -- CHAPTER 3. Can the Supply of Natural Resources Really Be Infinite? Yes! -- CHAPTER 4. Famine 1985? Or 1995? Or 1975? -- CHAPTER 5. Food in the 1970s: From Shortage-Crisis to Glut-Crisis -- CHAPTER 6. Are We Losing Ground? -- CHAPTER 7. When Will We Run Out of Energy? Never! -- CHAPTER 8. Today's Energy Issues -- CHAPTER 9. More Pollution? Or Less? -- CHAPTER 10. Should We Conserve Resources for Others' Sakes? What Kinds of Resources Need Conservation? -- PART TWO. POPULATION GROWTH'S EFFECT UPON OUR RESOURCES AND LIVING STANDARD -- CHAPTER 11. Standing Room Only? The Demographic Facts -- CHAPTER 12. Do Humans Breed Like Flies? Or Like Norwegian Rats? -- CHAPTER 13. Population Growth and the Stock of Capital -- CHAPTER 14. Population's Effects on Technology, Productivity, and Education -- CHAPTER 15. Population Growth, Natural Resources, Future Generations, and International Rape -- CHAPTER 16. Population Growth and Land -- CHAPTER 17. Are People an Environmental Pollution? -- CHAPTER 18. Population Density Does Not Damage Health, or Psychological and Social Well- Being -- CHAPTER 19. The Big Economic Picture: Population Growth and Living Standards in MDCs -- CHAPTER 20. The Big Picture II.- LDCs -- PART THREE. BEYOND THE DATA -- CHAPTER 21. The Politics and Finances of Population Control -- CHAPTER 22. The Rhetoric of Population Control: Does the End Justify the Means? -- CHAPTER 23. Ultimately - What Are Your Values? -- CONCLUSION. The Ultimate Resource -- Appendix -- Notes -- Source Notes for Figures -- References -- Index