Why does the economy need to continue to grow, especially in countries such as Japan where population is declining?

Question

Why does the economy need to continue to grow, especially in countries such as Japan where population is declining?

In: 56

Answer 1

It doesn’t and can’t indefinitely but countries compete and if your competitors are growing then you better start to grow too or else you’ll eventually fall so far behind the growers that you will be incapable of repelling aggressive actions. A good example would be the vast amount of conquering/colonising/exploiting that happened on the back of the industrial revolution which allowed the colonial powers to significantly outgrow the rest of the world for a time.

Also everything is relative, so if you maintained your economy but everyone else is growing then from an inside perspective you are shrinking relative to everyone else.