Rethinking Progress: The Illusion of Growth and the Power of Values
For centuries, humanity has equated progress with expansion—more production, more consumption, and more profit. However, as we stand on the edge of ecological and moral collapse, it becomes increasingly evident that this traditional model of “development” may be a dangerous illusion. The current economic system, rooted in the idea of scarcity, often overlooks a far more pressing issue: greed.
Greed, Not Scarcity: The Real Problem of Economics
Classical and neoclassical economics have long framed scarcity as the central problem, suggesting that resources are limited while human wants are infinite. This perspective, however, ignores the deeper issue: greed. As Amartya Sen (1999) points out in Development as Freedom, famines and economic suffering are not always caused by a lack of resources but by “entitlement failures”—the inability or unwillingness of people and institutions to share and distribute what already exists. The core dysfunction of modern economies is not material insufficiency, but the moral failure to restrain excessive accumulation.
Greed, defined as an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth or power, is not new to human nature. What has changed, however, is how modern economic systems legitimize and reward it. In times of insecurity and future anxiety, greed often masquerades as prudence or ambition. People cling to accumulation as a buffer against uncertainty. Philosopher Erich Fromm (1976) observes in To Have or To Be? that “modern society is geared to the mode of having, not of being.” He warns that societies obsessed with possession inevitably erode their capacity for empathy, solidarity, and ecological sustainability.
The Rise of Consumerism and Its Consequences
After World War II, American policymakers and economists intentionally engineered a consumer culture to jump-start the economy. William Rees, a professor at the University of British Columbia, critiques this post-war pivot. He highlights how U.S. economic architects promoted materialism as a civic virtue, rebranding consumption as the hallmark of personal success and national progress. Victor Lebow, a retail analyst, famously captured this ethos in 1955: “Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life… that we seek our spiritual and ego satisfaction in consumption.”
This strategy worked—economic growth surged—but it also laid the groundwork for a planetary crisis. Today, the consequences of this consumerist paradigm are global. Developing nations emulate Western consumption patterns, mistaking them for development, while the planet reels under the pressure. Epidemiologist Warren Hern and William Rees jointly warn that the global economy is behaving much like a “cancer”—relentlessly expanding, heedless of the destruction left in its wake. They argue that the impulse for growth is “a primitive survival mechanism” now embedded in economic ideology.
The Fundamental Question: Can We Outgrow Our Addiction to Growth?
The fundamental question then is not whether we can grow our economies, but whether we can outgrow our addiction to growth. Undoubtedly, greed is not merely a private vice; it is a public hazard. When embedded into economic systems and normalized through cultural narratives, it leads inevitably to various forms of immorality—personal, corporate, and ecological. Reversing this trend requires a reorientation of values, where economic activity is not divorced from ethics, and where prosperity is judged not by accumulation but by justice, sustainability, and human dignity.
True economic development must reject this destructive model. It must prioritize ecological integrity, equity, and long-term sustainability over short-term profits and national competitiveness. Herman Daly, one of the pioneers of ecological economics, argued that “a failed growth economy and a steady-state economy are not the same thing; they are the difference between a dying economy and one that is alive and sustainable.”
Immorality and Economic Development
Greed, by its very nature, fosters immorality. While the popular conception of immorality often defaults to illicit sexual behavior, this is only a narrow expression of a much broader moral failure. Indeed, the pursuit of excessive wealth and power—unchecked by ethical constraints—undermines the moral fabric of society at multiple levels. St. Thomas Aquinas argued in his Summa Theologiae that greed or avaritia is a “capital sin” because it leads to other forms of moral failure, including deceit, injustice, and exploitation.
In modern economies, these manifestations are not just isolated acts of misconduct; they are often embedded in the very structure of economic activity. Scholars such as Michel Foucault and Anthony Giddens have observed how liberal capitalist societies, under the guise of individual freedom, have commodified and hypersexualized human relationships. Research by the World Health Organization notes that sexually transmitted infections rise in correlation with urbanization and affluence, suggesting that the same conditions that promote economic growth also catalyze risky sexual behaviors.
Corporate Immorality and Environmental Degradation
In the realm of business, immorality frequently manifests in fraud, corruption, and corporate negligence. The 2008 global financial crisis is a prime example. Economist Joseph Stiglitz remarked that “the crisis was not an accident; it was man-made, the result of immoral behavior on the part of many players in the financial system.” Major financial institutions, motivated by profit and enabled by deregulation, engaged in deceptive practices that devastated economies and livelihoods across the world.
Corporate immorality is also evident in environmental degradation. Companies knowingly release harmful products into the market, often with the tacit or overt support of corrupt government regulators and compromised media. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway expose how corporations have manipulated science and public discourse to downplay the risks of harmful products—from tobacco to fossil fuels. This collusion between private and public actors reflects what Pope Francis has termed “the technocratic paradigm,” where profit-driven logic overrides ethical and ecological responsibility.
The Ethical Violations of Environmental Destruction
Environmental destruction is perhaps the most egregious expression of greed-driven immorality. Mining, deforestation, and pollution are not mere externalities—they are ethical violations against both current populations and future generations. Ecologist Vandana Shiva asserts that “a person who pollutes and destroys the environment is not a developer, but a destroyer.” Such individuals and corporations, often celebrated as engines of economic growth, are in reality inflicting violence on nature and society.
The paradox is that while armed robbers or serial killers are rightly condemned and punished, those who preside over environmental disasters—causing mass displacement, disease, and biodiversity loss—are lauded as captains of industry. This moral inversion calls into question the very nature of what we call “economic development.” If development results in environmental collapse, widespread inequality, and a breakdown of moral norms, can it truly be considered progress?
As Mahatma Gandhi once warned, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
