World3 Dynamics

The study "The Limits to Growth," published in 1972 and known as the Meadows Report, concluded that exponential growth in population and economy could not be sustained indefinitely. This finding has been the subject of much criticism. It is based on a model, the World3 model, which is a dynamical system that was used by the authors to predict the evolution of certain variables such as available resources, capital, and population. Such a model contains numerous feedback loops, some of which have a much greater impact than others. We use a method called Loop Elasticity Analysis (LEEA) to determine the influence of each loop on the system, an influence that can vary over time and that allows us to identify the key elements of the model.