Understanding limits

Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir and Ásgeir Brynjar Torfason

Chapter 5 in The Elgar Companion to Creating a Regenerative Economy for Wellbeing, 2026, pp 82-106 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter focuses on creating an understanding of limits, not only of planetary boundaries and how much resources our Earth can provide but also the limits of current economic growth. British economist Kenneth Boulding stated in the 1950s that ‘anyone who believes that endless growth is possible in a limited world is either an idiot or an economist.’ He developed the concept of an economy on a limited Earth. Based on that thinking the Limits to Growth report published in 1972 showed that population growth would lead to a decline in the natural world. The challenging philosophical reflections critique enlightenment dualism and the core idea of economic growth as unbounded. The chapter aims to reframe human–nature relations in economic thought by linking ideas from philosophy and ecology to economics and thus expanding the intellectual reach, providing an overview of economic ideas that go beyond the growth focus.

Keywords: Biophysical Limits; Limits to Growth; Steady-State Economics; Degrowth; Heterodox Economists; Natural Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800884960
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