Uneconomic growth, in human development theory, welfare economics (the economics of social welfare), and some forms of ecological economics, is economic growth that reflects or creates a decline in the quality of life. The concept is attributed to the economist Herman Daly, though other theorists can also be credited for the incipient idea. Note that economic degrowth is different from uneconomic growth (or uneconomic degrowth), it is meant as a reduction of the size of the economy that would bring well-being and sustainability.
The cost, or decline in well-being, associated with extended economic growth is argued to arise as a result of "the social and environmental sacrifices made necessary by that growing encroachment on the eco-system." In other words, "neconomic growth occurs when increases in production come at an expense in resources and well-being that is worth more than the items made."
Read more about Uneconomic Growth: Good Vs. Bad Growth, The Limits To Growth, The Role of Technology, and Jevon's Paradox
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“A person of mature years and ripe development, who is expecting nothing from literature but the corroboration and renewal of past ideas, may find satisfaction in a lucidity so complete as to occasion no imaginative excitement, but young and ambitious students are not content with it. They seek the excitement because they are capable of the growth that it accompanies.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)