The idea of managed growth implies that some set of individuals has better knowledge about what should happen in the local economy than the thousands of consumers and businesses who are constantly interacting in the marketplace. Our economy operates on the principle of competition. In a competitive market, entrepreneurs try to meet the wants and desires of consumers. This competition ensures that consumers get the best combination of price and product characteristics based on their preferences. By its nature, competition, and hence economic growth, is messy and disorderly.
Firms come and go.
New technology, the whims and changing likes and dislikes of consumers, and uncertain prices and costs determine which firms win and which lose. All the changes brought by competition are impossible to predict. This realization casts severe doubts on managed growth. For managed growth implicitly assumes that a few can predict and determine what consumers want and need and who is best able to provide those wants and needs, and when. Beyond the inherent weaknesses in the arguments for managed growth, there are also costs.