Is Progress Sustainable? Mokyr’s Nobel Lecture

“Progress” is a word that often generates both a lot of positive vibes, and also a lot of pushback? Progress toward what? At what cost? So it’s perhaps useful to specify that when I refer to “progress,” I’m referring to an overall movement toward good things of life: in no particular order, longer and healthier lives; a rising standard of living, especially for the poor; more education for more people; environmental protection; leisure time; personal safety, resources of time and money for people to build community with family, friends, neighbors; and more. Addressing these and other problems of society requires “progress.” Of course, the specifics of how to address social problems are always controversial. But I’d argue strongly that if the solutions are envisioned as a zero-sum game–that is, all about taking from some groups to benefit others–lasting progress is hard to achieve. If the resources of a society are growing, and the question is how to guide and shape the fruit of that…