Grow, go or no?

"Grow or go" is a mantra in the business world. In fact, the whole world economy is based on continuous growth. We finance higher salaries, stronger returns on investments, and the well-being of entire nations on the premise that continuous growth is an achievable goal. And, since the inception of the industrial revolution, growth has been the rule and stagnation the exception. It was exactly the other way around during most of our species' existence.However, one might reasonably ask whether there are (or should be) sectors of the economy that are exempt from grow or go? Health care, the performing arts, and private, independent schools--those sectors with productivity issues according to William Baumol's cost disease analysis--are areas where grow or go makes less logical sense. Even with telemedicine, one very quickly reaches the limit of a physician's capacity to treat patients. Not all psychopathologies are amenable to group therapy, nor can the group be ever expanding in size. It will forever take four musicians to play a string quartet. And education is basically a cottage industry where the intensely personal relationship between student and teacher is the agent of change. But must it be so?In theory, of course, it need not be so. Online teaching, MOOC's, experiential education, internships and practica all move the productivity needle and make growth a possibility. Whether growth is a virtue is another matter entirely, as is whether the results are desirable in the long run. We give up nothing as customers when it takes fewer workers to build a new car (though society might give up quite a lot via externalities). It is not at all clear that growth alone in education translates into a neutral or better effect on students. It almost certainly alters the theory of change. On the other hand, no growth inevitably means continuous higher-than-inflation price increases or continuous staff reductions. Thus far, the private education field has opted for higher prices, but continuing this strategy risks relegating us to a niche status at best. Is there a viable alternative?