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V_V comments on Blind Spot: Malthusian Crunch - Less Wrong
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I don't think anybody (but the most extreme leftists) is proposing a Soviet-like centrally planned economy, but without regulation, markets mechanisms alone don't necessarily deal well with resource scarcity. This has been both observed empirically and understood theoretically (tragedy of the commons, negative externalities, etc.)
Why not? Growth rate is already in decline, and AFAIK, most models of world population growth predict a peak in this century.
Well, markets don't exist in a vacuum, of course, they need a reasonable framework of law and order. Just to start with you need property rights and the ability to enforce contracts.
That's a different thing that doesn't have much to do with the markets ability to deal with resource scarcity.
You keep pointing out that markets are not Jesus and they don't automagically solve all humanity's problems. Yes, yes, of course, but no one is arguing that. We're talking about a fairly specific problem -- dealing with resource scarcity -- and you keep on bringing up how markets don't solve violence and pollution...
I expect the population to reach a plateau and stabilize at some point. I do not expect that plateau to be the capacity level of the planet.
Well, they should provide a constructive alternative to the former, and the latter is isomorphous with a scarcity of non-polluted air/water/land.