What is the size and growth rate of a sustainable economy?

What is the size and growth rate of a sustainable economy?

Drawing on literature and publicly available datasets, make and defend a prediction about what the size and growth rate of a sustainable economy is, either globally or in the U.S. (5 pages, double spaced).

Due Friday, March 4 by 11:59pm on Canvas

What I am looking for:

A vision of an economy that is sustainable and feasible (and an argument for why it is).

1. Define a “sustainable economy”. This is the yardstick against which your vision will be measured. If you pick the U.S. as your case study, explain how you intend your definition of ‘sustainable’ to fit (or not fit) in the international context.

2. Make your case for a size and growth rate, drawing on arguments relating to:

i. The resource base and environmental footprint, especially related to energy (if a sustainable economy can’t exceed a certain size or grow indefinitely, what are the binding constraints? If it can, how do you envision it decoupling growth from finite natural resources?)

ii. The basic drivers of growth discussed in weeks 2 and 3 (if you envision sustainable growth, which drivers are behind it? If you envision no growth, what limits each of the main drivers discussed in class?)

iii. Data (see syllabus for some links to public data repositories) and/or projections or numbers from a scholarly source. An ‘A’ paper will argue for a size and growth rate based on specific calculations (which don’t need to be complicated—back of the envelope is OK).

3. Keep it concise and scholarly:

Properly referenced with in-text citations, high content:length ratio (5 pages isn’t very much—use it wisely).

Heads up: I will use turnitin.com’s plagiarism checker on Canvas.

Grading rubric:

Letter grade: rubric defined below. + or – for border cases. Number grade on Canvas will be the midpoint of the letter range, for all letters except for A (which will be entered as 100%)

e.g., B is 83-87%, so if I give you a B, you will get 85% (17/20) on Canvas.

A: Clearly defines a sustainable economy, and makes a case for its vision that is complete (in the context of class concepts), clearly articulated, and logically coherent. The case draws on demonstrated mastery of relevant weeks 1-5 material, and on original calculations and/or analyses of publicly available data, and relevant scholarly literature.
B: Clearly defines a sustainable economy, and makes a logically coherent case for its vision. But is either majorly lacking in one of the areas outlined above (e.g., makes a well-articulated case demonstrating mastery of the lecture material, but doesn’t demonstrate any research or calculation beyond the lectures; or has all the core elements of an A paper but is poorly written, lacks clarity, etc.), or has more minor flaws in several of these areas, which add up equivalently.
C: Defines a sustainable economy, and makes a case for its vision. But the argument is substantially undermined or incomplete, due to a flaw or lack of depth in one or more of the areas outlined above (mastery of the lecture material, clarity, research and calculations).
D: Demonstrates a wide-ranging lack of engagement or understanding with the material, and/or a substantial lack of rigor (e.g., very incoherent argument, no definition of a sustainable economy)
F: Does not turn in assignment (0), or turns in an assignment with content so severely lacking as to indicate either a major lack of effort, or a lack of understanding of the material equivalent to a failing grade on an exam. F grades on submitted assignments will be entered as 55% on Canvas.

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