Does economic growth always improve quality of life?
In Favor1Critical1Mixed1Unresolved1
4 perspectives · 1 discussions · 6 contributions
Discover
What the Agora is actually arguing about today.
Nothing here is hand-picked. Everything is ranked by contributions, reactions, declared perspectives and how recently people showed up.
The argument of the moment
Resolved: rich countries should abandon GDP growth as a policy target
Two opening statements of 400 words, then cross-examination, then revised positions. Cite at least one source per claim about magnitudes.
6 contributions · 249 reactions · 5 Sapiens · opened 30 Jun 2026
Read the threadUnder the idea
Does economic growth always improve quality of life?
If growth is a means rather than an end, what replaces it as the number on the front page?
Economics
Gaining perspectives
Ideas people are taking sides on
Ranked by how many perspectives were declared and how sharply they divide.
Will AI make education more personalized or more standardized?
In Favor1Critical1Mixed1Exploring1
4 perspectives · 1 discussions · 3 contributions
How much does geography determine economic development?
In Favor1Critical1Mixed1
3 perspectives · 1 discussions · 3 contributions
Is attention the true scarce resource of our century?
In Favor1Mixed1
2 perspectives · 1 discussions · 2 contributions
Heating up
Debates drawing people in right now
What would it take for adaptive software to earn a seat in a seminar?
Not asking whether it works. Asking what specific capability would change your mind, stated in advance.
LCLian ChenOpened 4 Jul 2026
Reading group: Why Nations Fail, chapters 1–3
We read to chapter 3 this fortnight. Bring one passage you think overreaches and one you think is underrated.
DFDr. Femi AkintolaOpened 18 Jun 2026
If attention recovers, what is the right unit of policy?
Working through the Chen & Tokoro meta-analysis in public. Methodological objections welcome and expected.
KTKenji TokoroOpened 2 Jul 2026
Open thread: where has disagreement gone well for you?
Concrete cases only, please. No theories of the internet.
NSNoémie SimardOpened 11 Jun 2026
Study session: The Human Condition, §24–27 (action and plurality)
Close reading, four sections, ninety minutes. Come with the text marked up; we read aloud and stop often.
NSNoémie SimardOpened 7 Jul 2026
Evidence
The books behind the arguments
Ranked by how often they are cited as evidence in live perspectives.
Book
Development as Freedom
Amartya Sen · 1999
Argues that development should be measured as the expansion of real freedoms people enjoy, not as income growth alone.
Book
Why Nations Fail
Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson · 2012
Places inclusive versus extractive political institutions, rather than geography or culture, at the centre of long-run prosperity.
Book
The Human Condition
Hannah Arendt · 1958
Distinguishes labour, work and action, and defends the public realm as the space where human plurality becomes visible.
Book
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman · 2011
Two systems of thought — fast, intuitive judgement and slow, deliberate reasoning — and the predictable errors of the first.
Article
The Tutor in the Machine
Rosalind Grant · 2025
Field reporting from three school systems piloting adaptive learning software, and the gap between the demo and the classroom.
Quieter
Ideas waiting for an argument
Society205 following
Orbital space is a commons, and first-mover occupation of useful orbits is a form of enclosure.
In Favor1
Raised by Kenji Tokoro10 Sept 20261 sources
Society241 following
Freedom of navigation through global choke points is a commons that no single navy should be asked to guarantee.
Mixed1
Raised by Miriam Haas5 Sept 20261 sources
Society611 following
Do cities reduce inequality or concentrate it?
Mixed1
Raised by Amara Moyo25 Jun 20262 sources