The Ultimate Resource

Julian Lincoln Simon

Nov. 2023 · Princeton University Press

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A lively answer to those who sound alarms about population growth and resource use

The Ultimate Resource challenges conventional beliefs about the scarcity of energy and natural resources, the pollution of the environment, and the perils of overpopulation for our standard of living. In this provocative book, Julian Lincoln Simon argues that natural resources are not finite in any meaningful way, and that using such resources now will not slow the rate of future economic growth. In the short run, all resources are limited. A greater use of any resource means pressure on its supply and hence an increased price. In the long run, however, history shows that human creativity overcomes natural obstacles to economic growth and leads to a lower cost and price than before. The ultimate resource, Simon contends, is the human imagination coupled to the human spirit.

This timely book will fundamentally change how you think about a host of issues, from immigration and human fertility to forecasts of population change and the use of taxpayer dollars for population control. The Ultimate Resource demonstrates that the primary constraint on our national and world economic growth is our capacity for the creation of new ideas. The more people who can be trained to help solve the problems that confront us, the faster we might remove the obstacles, and the greater the economic inheritance we can bequeath to our descendants.

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Julian Lincoln Simon (1932–1998) was professor of economics and business administration at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His books include The Economics of Population Growth (Princeton).