Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Next Great Depression? MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030

Most of the computer scenarios found population and economic growth continuing at a steady rate until about 2030. But without "drastic measures for environmental protection," the scenarios predict the likelihood of a population and economic crash.
However, the study said "unlimited economic growth" is still possible if world governments enact policies and invest in green technologies that help limit the expansion of our ecological footprint.

7 comments:

AN DAO said...

I think if U.S. Government doesn't do anything about the Giant Debt anytime soon, we can see that happens even before 2030.

Anonymous said...

What concerns me is the rapid growth that will continue in China and India. India is projected to overtake China in terms of population by 2030. It will be interesting to see how the governments in those countries will respond to the changes that occur in the coming years. Obviously, some changes are coming are way in terms of finding better ways to deal with scarce natural resources.

Anonymous said...

If a global collapse occurs in 2030, what does that mean? Obviously no one knows, but I'm curious to know if that means we'll revert back to our ancient ways of the 'survival of the fittest' where everyone has to 'fight' for something or if they will wipe the slate completely clean, screwing a lot of people out of their possessions and funds, and starting from scratch with a universal monetary system or something. This could also give African countries a chance to rise if the large economic countries like US, China, India, etc. collapse and are literally on the same level as the African countries. This is definitely a very hasty comment I've stated here, but I'm just pondering the 'worst-of-the-worst' scenarios.

Allyn Wilson said...

It is worrying to think about the chaos that will ensue if the economy were to crash. Money would become worthless and mayhem would ensue with people trying to get everything they can to ensure the survival of themselves and their families. It is a scary idea but a realistic situation as well. I think more time needs to be allocated to figuring out the economy to stop this from happening.

Guanyi said...

This is another interesting apoclyptic article. It is true that modern people are exhausting the earth in a way that it shouldn't be. But the whole world is based on the foundation of this exhautness, there is no way to end it. Not to say that no way wants to. The only thing to do is to look for alternative resources and more efficient way of handling resources. I don't see the earth ending in some time that soon, but I do agree that we need to know a limit and something called austerity.

Chris Martin said...

While I believe that excessive growth will undoubtedly lead to crisis, this article is blowing the situation out of proportion. Global economic collapse is surely a future possibility, but through referencing a 40 year old study which has the basic hypothesis that unchecked growth leads to problems is hardly convincing evidence. If technology continues to advance at such high rates, many of the crises being predicted in the future will be easily avoided.

Unknown said...

I think is very interesting for a study to look ahead twenty years and try to make predictions on the future of the United States economy. Over my life time the growth of just information technology has allowed for huge efficiencies and spurred growth many thought was never possible. Computer models do not account for the innovation that will occur and change the global economy and allow for a whole new wave of economic growth. I find this MIT study interesting but lacks the ability to account for the innovation the global economy is capable of.