Julian Simon

Based on first-hand evidence of your own senses - the improved health and later ages at which acquaintances die nowadays read more

Based on first-hand evidence of your own senses - the improved health and later ages at which acquaintances die nowadays as compared with the past; the material goods that we now possess; the speed at which information, entertainment, and we ourselves move freely throughout the world - it seems to me that a person must be literally deaf and blind not to perceive that humanity is in a much better state than ever before.

The increase in the world's population represents our victory against death...

The increase in the world's population represents our victory against death...

Our supplies of natural resources are not finite in any economic sense. Nor does past experience give reason to expect read more

Our supplies of natural resources are not finite in any economic sense. Nor does past experience give reason to expect natural resources to become more scarce. Rather, if history is any guide, natural resources will progressively become less costly, hence less scarce, and will constitute a smaller proportion of our expenses in future years.

Greater consumption due to increase in population and growth of income heightens scarcity and induces price run-ups. A higher price read more

Greater consumption due to increase in population and growth of income heightens scarcity and induces price run-ups. A higher price represents an opportunity that leads inventors and businesspeople to seek new ways to satisfy the shortages. Some fail, at cost to themselves. A few succeed, and the final result is that we end up better off than if the original shortage problems had never arisen. That is, we need our problems, though this does not imply that we should purposely create additional problems for ourselves.

The most important benefit of population size and growth is the increase it brings to the stock of useful knowledge. read more

The most important benefit of population size and growth is the increase it brings to the stock of useful knowledge. Minds matter economically as much as, or more than, hands or mouths.