Steady-state Economy
An economic theory, put forth by Herman Daly in response to geophysicist M. K. Hubbert’s predictions of the limits of the fossil fuel supply, which regards the notion of economic growth in a finite world as inherently unsustainable. Instead, we should pursue a steady-state economy, which exists within our ecosystem and is similarly finite, non-growing and materially closed (no matter enters or leaves). A steady-state economy assumes that natural resources are scarce, and that our goal must be to maximize productivity and minimize their use.
This steady-state idea deviates from the recent and now-obviously obsolete assumptions that labor and financial capital are the scarce resources, and that raw materials are limitless. Labor, though very expensive in the West, is in large (too-large) supply, and financial capital seems ample.