During a boom, as incomes rise the demand for imports will rise also as a natural feature of prosperity.
With its bounteous populations of mollusks, shrimp and finfish, the gulf holds one of the best supplies of health food on the planet and has been a natural engine of prosperity.
Yet, economic theory does not automatically suggest that natural-resource-based prosperity will lead to subsequent poverty.
It is the outcome of adverse shocks, and policies that responded to those shocks, impacting a country that had only natural-resource-driven prosperity.
Typists, ticket agents, bank tellers and many production-line jobs have been dispensed with, just as the weavers were.For those, including this newspaper, who believe that technological progress has made the world a better place, such churn is a natural part of rising prosperity.
When Ocean Grown approached Coalinga about the prison, it became apparent to city leaders that marijuana could be their key to prosperity – a natural plant that could eliminate their debt, provide new jobs, and revive the town for generations to come.
The fact is all of us depend on healthy natural systems for our prosperity, our progress, our very existence.
We came across it over and over again in talking with the community of Cabo Pulmo: real passion for the Marine Park and a clear understanding that by protecting it, the community is guaranteeing a sustainable future of natural beauty and economic prosperity.
This, it might be argued, is a natural by-product of soaring prosperity.
But it also shows that we continue to harm the natural systems that sustain our prosperity.
