MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Pros and Cons of 'Growth'

It’s a complicated issue, but one we all need to address in a world facing existential challenges like climate change, inequality, and resource pressures.

First, the good side of growth. It is undeniable that economic expansion has increased the well-being of humanity. The wonderful book Factfulness by the late Hans Rosling — who delivered a massively popular TED talk on statistics — shows how much progress we’ve made in reducing human misery. Rosling points out that in 1997, 42% of the people in India and China were living in extreme, soul-crushing poverty (that is, roughly less than $2 per day of income). In just 20 years, India reduced that share to 12% and China to an amazing 0.7%.

About the Author

Andrew Winston (@andrewwinston) is founder of Winston Eco-Strategies and an adviser to multinationals on how they can navigate humanity’s biggest challenges and profit from solving them. He is the coauthor of the international bestseller Green to Gold and the author of the popular book The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World.

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