Reflections on Herman Daly’s Economics for a Full World: His Life and Ideas

Abstract Herman Daly’s Economics for a Full World, by Peter Victor, provides a comprehensive overview of Daly’s thought and the life experiences that shaped it. Daly has played a key role in advancing the critique of economic growth, helping launch the field of ecological economics, and creating a foundation for many variations of post-growth thinking. This commentary examines some of Daly’s main contributions that have included elaborating the idea that growth can be uneconomic, outlining core principles of a steady-state economy, questioning the potential to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts, advancing the project of moving beyond gross domestic product (GDP) to measure economic performance, and emphasizing the importance of separately addressing the economy’s optimal scale, just distribution, and efficient allocation. Also discussed are controversial elements of Daly’s work, including his population and immigration proposals. While mainstream economists have resisted these ideas, the most important criticisms come from people sympathetic with his challenge to the growth paradigm, including criticism of insufficient analysis of how the dynamics of contemporary capitalist economies drive a relentless pursuit of growth. As Victor argues, it is time for a new generation to build on the foundations that Daly constructed. Much work still lies ahead in creating an economy appropriate for a “full world,” including better understanding of how to reduce growth dependency and creating the complementary cultural and political changes needed to overcome opposition.