DOOMED: MIT Researchers Predict Global Economic Collapse by 2030

We’ve certainly discussed our fair share of doomsday predictions here at Blippitt.  We’ve talked about everything from near-Earth asteroids to Biblical prophecies to the Mayan calendar.

What if there’s a far more realistic danger, however?

A new study from researchers at Jay W. Forrester’s institute at MIT says that the world could soon suffer from “global economic collapse” and “precipitous population decline” if we continue consuming the world’s resources at the current rate.

According to Smithsonian Magazine, Australian physicist Graham Turner says “the world is on track for disaster” and that current evidence agrees with an infamous academic report from 1972 called, “The Limits to Growth“.

Produced for a group called The Club of Rome, the researchers created a computer model to predict different scenarios based on the current trends in global population growth and resource consumption. The study also factored in various levels of agricultural productivity, birth control usage, and environmental protection efforts. Twelve million copies of the report were doled out in 37 different languages.

The majority of the computer models saw population and economic growth continuing steadily until about 2030, but without “drastic measures for environmental protection,” the models then predict an economic and population crash.

On the bright side, the new study said that “unlimited economic growth” is still a possibility if world leaders implement policies and invest in green technologies that aid in limiting the effects and expansion of our ecological footprint.

The Smithsonian notes that there were plenty of renowned experts who objected to the principals put forth in “The Limit of Growt”, including the late Yale economist Henry Wallich.  For 12 years, Wallich served as a governor of the Federal Research Board and was its lead international economics expert. At the time, Wallich stated that trying to regulate or limit economic growth would be equivalent to “consigning billions to permanent poverty.”

In what may be the most stunning revelation, Turner says that the results of the computer models in the new study were practically identical to those predicted in similar scenarios used in “The Limits to Growth”.

“There is a very clear warning bell being rung here,” Turner said. “We are not on a sustainable trajectory.”

Related articles

• MIT researchers predict ‘global economic collapse’ by 2030 (disclose.tv)
• Global Economic Collapse Imminent: MIT Researchers Predict Next Great Depression By 2030 (inquisitr.com)
• The Limits To Growth And Beyond (businessinsider.com)