A costly middle class?

Moisés Naím has an ambivalent article in Foreign Policy (March / April 2008) entitled “Can the World Afford A Middle Class?”. His short answer is “yes, but it will be awfully expensive”. Naim makes the correct but obvious point that the economic development of the likes of China and India will involve the use of a huge amount of resources. However, Naím seems doubtful about the ability of humanity to find new sources of supply for natural resources. Although he does not openly embrace Malthus he expects the surge in demand for resources to have unexpected and painful side effects.