04 Disadvantages of growth

Social costs

A society often pays an excessive price for economic growth in the form of environmental pollution, eroding social/ cultural values, compassion.

Inflation

The injection of new money by governments to favor economic growth leads to inflation/ currency devaluation, which disproportionately affects the poor, for the following reason.

The poor spend a greater fraction of their income on food/ raw materials, whereas rich tend to spend a greater fraction of their wealth on services. During inflation, the price of commodities grows at a much greater rate than the price of services.

Growth imbalance

Thus, with growth, the monetary imbalance between the rich and the poor tends to grow.