by Laura Conaway

A bunch of you have asked why the experts all seem to say the economy has to keep growing. You want to know why we can't find a solid perch and stay there. If you're in that camp, or you're thinking of joining it, I may have found your guy. (Or not: Update in the comments.)

Venture capitalist (or nurture capitalist, as he often says) Woody Tasch is the founder of a new nonprofit called Slow Money. I've been talking to him for a segment I'm working on about an organic farmer who needs money to expand his operation. Tasch's publisher sent over his new book, Slow Money, in which he writes:

Is it really possible to design a market that does not demand growth?

We must dare to ask the question and we must dare to answer it.

 

This is not a problem that contravenes the laws of physics or biology. This is a human institution. This is a problem of design. This is a challenge to hold our heads above the rising tide of industrial finance. With all the knowledge and ignorance at our disposal, just why in the world would we not be able to design an alternative market, no matter how complicated?

And if such a market were to come into existence, with however few listed companies and however few investors, to what scale might it appropriately grow over time?

I'm hoping to talk to Tasch again. Let me know if you've got a question you'd like me to ask.