Superabundance Unbound: Limitless Possibilities in a Finite World
“Innovation has improved our productivity and raised our standards of living beyond anything that our ancestors dared to dream about… Humans, far from being a cancer on the planet, are intrinsically valuable”
Read this new paper from Marian Tupy on the age-old debate about resource abundance versus resource scarcity, and how innovation is the key to sustaining and growing our ‘superabundance’.
Summary of Research Paper
The rise of abundance
In the late 1800s, Thomas Malthus wrote his famous thesis, outlining his fears of the population rising above what the natural resources of this world could bear. Several centuries later, many continue to propagate this view, that the world will not much longer be able to cope with the human demands on its reserves.
Yet the passage of history would suggest such fears have no grounds. On the contrary, the last two hundred years tell a different story—a story of hope and prosperity.
On almost every metric, life has improved: mortality rates have reduced, nutrition has improved, income has risen. And most interestingly, resources are more abundant than before. Even in the short period from 1980 until 2022, the world’s population rose from 4.4 billion to 8 billion people, and total resource abundance rose by 420.1% with it. Broken down to the individual level, this meant that income outpaced commodity price increases so much that basic commodities became 65.5% more affordable per hours worked. The impact on living standards was transformative.
As the population rises, there are not more people to feed with the same size of pie. Rather, the greater creative capacities of the population grow the pie—meaning there is more for everyone.
The foundation of freedom
People produce abundance, not scarcity. Yet, where abundance has grown fastest—in the West—this change was accompanied by the cultivation of an environment conducive to abundance. This environment is one in which human creative potential flourishes.
Each breakthrough in producing greater abundance has come through innovation. And for humans to innovate, they need freedom—freedom to think, exchange ideas, experiment, trade, and cooperate with one another. The liberal institutions of the West fostered this freedom, allowing its citizens to fulfil their extraordinary innovative potential.
It is these fundamental freedoms which the West must protect, to continue to allow its citizens to thrive and bring forward new solutions to the world’s needs.
The ‘abundance mindset’
Many of the issues surrounding our resources today are beginning to be solved. Whether it is rising forest coverage in in the West, replenishing fish reserves through new forms of aquaculture, or rebuilding nitrogen reserves in our soil through crop modification. Each solution is the product of human innovation, and each has the power to continue driving us towards greater abundance.
But for this to continue, the West must once again embrace an ‘abundance mindset’. One which recognises and celebrates the extraordinary potential of human innovation grounded in freedom. One which welcomes new human life into the world as the architects of our future abundance, rather than inhibits human flourishing through false fears of scarcity. One which encourages the free, uninhibited exchange of ideas as we seek a more prosperous future. One which reflects on the truths of the past and implements their lessons in the future.
