By Natalia Shcherbinina
According to Jeff Rubin, one of North America’s leading economists and a former CIBC chief economist, prosperous economic conditions in developed countries are permanently coming to an end, as the world is about to settle into a deeper, long-lasting recession.
In his new book “End of Growth”, Rubin argues the true reason behind economic meltdown of 2008 was not the housing market bubble or inadequate risk assessment of complex products of financial engineering, but rather soaring oil prices. Rubin presents the gist of his claim in the first fifty pages of the book, describing oil as “the most important source of energy for the global economy”, which was instrumental in the tremendous progress and economic prosperity of the developed nations post-Industrial Revolution.
However, since oil prices have soared in the past decade, growth can no longer be sustained and another global recession, or rather a permanent “static economy” is imminent. The only viable solution is political and social adjustment to the new static economy, which includes minimizing consumption, altering our lifestyle entirely and accepting the fact that the times of economic prosperity are long behind us.
Despite portraying a fairly grim economic outlook, Rubin also outlines the positive implication on the environment: the damaging effect of industrialization and economic growth on our planet will naturally diminish as the global economy slows. For the remaining chapters, Rubin discusses many other phenomena connected to the wide-spread economic and geopolitical effects of high oil prices, as well as the challenges the world’s economic stagnation will bring. Click here for more
