A Survey of Sustainable Development: Social And Economic Dimensions (Frontier Issues in Economic Thought) - Softcover

Harris, Jonathan; Wise, Timothy; Gallagher, Kevin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 155963863X ISBN 13: 9781559638630

Verlag: Island Press, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

Perpetual economic growth is physically impossible on a planet with finite resources. Many concerned with humanity's future have focused on the concept of "sustainable development" as an alternative, as they seek means of achieving current economic and social goals without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own goals. Sustainable development brings together elements of economics, public policy, sociology, ecology, resource management, and other related areas, and while the term has become quite popular, it is rarely defined, and even less often is it understood.

A Survey of Sustainable Development addresses that problem by bringing together in a single volume the most important works on sustainable human and economic development. It offers a broad overview of the subject, and gives the reader a quick and thorough guide to this highly diffuse topic. The volume offers ten sections on topics including:

• economic and social dimensions of sustainable development
• the North/South balance
• population and the demographic transition
• agriculture and renewable resources
• energy and materials use
• globalization and corporate responsibility
• local and national strategies

Each section is introduced with an essay by one of the volume editors that provides an overview of the subject and a summary of the mainstream literature, followed by two- to three-page abstracts of the most important articles or book chapters on the topic.

A Survey of Sustainable Development is the sixth and final volume in the Frontier Issues of Economic Thought series produced by the Global Development And Environment Institute at Tufts University. Each book brings together the most important articles and book chapters in a "frontier" area of economics where important new work is being done but has not yet been incorporated into the mainstream of economic study. The book is an essential reference for students and scholars concerned with economics, environmental studies, public policy and administration, international development, and a broad range of related fields.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Edited by Jonathan M. Harris, Timothy Wise, Kevin Gallagher, and Neva R. Goodwin; Foreword by Amartya Sen

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A Survey of Sustainable Development

Social and Economic Dimensions

By Jonathan M. Harris, Timothy A. Wise, Kevin P. Gallagher, Neva R. Goodwin

ISLAND PRESS

Copyright © 2001 Island Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-55963-863-0

Contents

FRONTIER ISSUES IN ECONOMIC THOUGHT VOLUME 6 NEVA R. GOODWIN, SERIES EDITOR, 
Title Page, 
Copyright Page, 
Dedication, 
Note to the Reader, 
Authors of Original Articles, 
Foreword, 
Acknowledgments, 
Volume Introduction, 
PERSPECTIVES ON SUSTAINABILITY, 
PART I - Economics of Sustainability: The Environmental Dimension, 
PART II - Economics of Sustainability: The Social Dimension, 
PART III - Global Perspectives: The North/South Imbalance, 
BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUSTAINABILITY, 
PART IV - Population and Urbanization, 
PART V - Agriculture and Renewable Resources, 
PART VI - Materials, Energy, and Climate Change, 
POLICIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY, 
PART VII - Globalization and Sustainability, 
PART VIII - Taming the Corporation, 
PART IX - Local and National Strategies, 
PART X - Reforming Global Institutions, 
Bibliography, 
Subject Index, 
Name Index, 
Island Press Board of Directors, 

CHAPTER 1

PART I

Economics of Sustainability: The Environmental Dimension

Overview Essay

by Jonathan M. Harris

Serious consideration of sustainable development requires a rethinking of major elements of economic theory. The standard economic perspective must be broadened to take into account environmental and social perspectives. In this essay, we address primarily the environmental issues, then move to the social perspective in Part II.

To some extent, principles of environmental sustainability can be expressed in standard economic terms. For example, economic theory provides for the internalization of environmental costs, and natural resource economics recognizes the concept of sustainable yield in natural resource systems. But to consider the full implications of sustainability we need to look beyond these formulations to consider the social and ecological contexts of economic activity. This in turn leads to a re-examination of some of the fundamental theoretical frameworks of economics. Among the concepts that need to be reexamined are capital, valuation, distribution, savings, investment, and economic growth. As a result, both the categories of analysis and the policy implications derived from that analysis change significantly when we take sustainability seriously.

A Broader View of Capital and Production

Standard economic theory treats manufactured capital as the key to development, with some attention also to human capital (skills and knowledge embodied in individuals). Although natural resources are acknowledged as an input to the productive process, they are not an important feature of most economic models. In addition, the social and institutional arrangements that provide the basis for economic activity remain very much in the background. Economic theories of sustainability are based on a more expansive concept of capital. Viewing capital broadly as any stock that produces or contributes to a flow of output, we can identify four kinds of capital: manufactured, natural, human, and social.

Manufactured capital is what is ordinarily referred to simply as "capital" in most economic theory. Natural capital corresponds to what standard economic theory traditionally defined as "land"; the reason for the different terminology is to emphasize the essential productive role of this factor, and to broaden the concept to include all environmental functions. Human capital refers to education and skills possessed by individuals. Social capital is used to refer to knowledge and rules embedded in culture and institutions, such as the legal system or the concept of property rights. All four kinds of capital and essential to economic activity, although standard economic theory emphasizes primarily manufactured and human capital.

Manufactured capital is maintained and accumulated through investment. This process, of course, is central to standard models of economic growth. There is a clear and reciprocal relationship between manufactured capital and economic production: more capital makes it possible to expand economic production, and the devotion of a share of production to investment makes it possible to accumulate more capital. The relationship can be defined in mathematical terms, using concepts such as the savings rate and the capital /output ratio, and is easily amenable to measurement and econometric analysis.

Human capital is also fairly well represented in economic models of the labor market and plays an important role in modern growth models. The dynamics of natural and social capital present more problems, and these kinds of capital have received less recognition and attention from economists. Yet for true sustainability to be achieved, all four kinds of capital must be maintained at levels that allow both human well-being and healthy ecosystems.

Manufactured and Natural Capital

In the first article summarized here, Robert Costanza and Herman Daly set forth the basic conditions for the maintenance of natural as well as manufactured capital. They point out that neoclassical economics usually treats natural and manufactured capital as fully substitutable. If this approach is accepted, there is no particular reason to conserve natural capital so long as manufactured capital is augmented by a value equal to or greater than the depletion of natural capital. For example, it would be acceptable for a country to cut down its forests if the economic proceeds from the timber sales are used for investment in industrial development.

Even in the neoclassical perspective, however, the principle of weak sustainability is appropriate. A well-known principle derived from work by Solow and Hartwick (the "Hartwick rule") states that consumption may remain constant, or increase, with declining nonrenewable resources provided that the rents from these resources are reinvested in reproducible capital (Hartwick 1977; Solow 1986). In this approach, sustainability requires that the total value of the two forms of capital remain constant over time. El Serafy has pointed out that in order to assess this value, there must be a full accounting for natural capital depletion (El Serafy, 1993; also see article by El Serafy summarized below).

A strong sustainability approach is based on the idea that substitutability between natural and manufactured capital is limited. Rather, the two are seen as complements—factors that must be used together to be productive. For example, a fleet of fishing boats is of no use without a stock of fish. In the case of critical natural capital—for example, essential water supplies—substitutability is close to zero. While it may be possible, for example, to compensate for some water pollution with purification systems, life and economic activity are essentially impossible without access to water. The strong sustainability approach implies that specific measures distinct from the ordinary market process are necessary for the conservation of natural capital. It also implies limits on macroeconomic scale. The economic system cannot grow beyond the limitations set by the regeneration and waste-absorption capacities of the ecosystem.

Costanza and Daly suggest that a minimum necessary condition for sustainability can be...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Island Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2001
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 155963863X
• ISBN 13: 9781559638630
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 448
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland