Suchergebnisse

This book explains why the climate change crisis is a symptom of a much larger underlying problem - namely, humankind's predilection with continuous GDP-growth. Given this starting point, the world's high-income nations must begin the transition to a qualitatively-improving steady-state economy and low-income nations must follow suit at some stage over the next 20-40 years. Unless they do, a well-designed emissions protocol will be as useless as the paper it is written on. Adopting an ecological economic approach, this book sets out why we must abandon the goal of continuous growth; how we can do so in a way that improves human well-being; what constitutes a safe atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases; and what type of emissions protocol and emissions-trading framework is likely to achieve a desirable climate change outcome. Failure of the world's leaders to achieve these goals will not only put future human well-being at risk, it will threaten freedom in the liberal-democratic tradition and international peace

This book focuses on three critical issues pertaining to the broader goal of sustainable development - namely, the degenerative forces of globalisation, ecological sustainability requirements, and how best to negotiate the economic transition process. While the applicability of ecological sustainability to sustainable development is obvious, the association between economic transition and sustainable development, and, more particularly, how globalisation forces can impact negatively on the sustainable development process, is poorly understood. Philip Lawn brings together some of the leading practitioners in the field of sustainable development to discuss these issues and to outline ways to achieve sustainable development without the perceived need for continuous growth. The book culminates with a number of policy recommendations and institutional modifications to assist nations and the global community to achieve sustainable development. This book will prove invaluable for academics and researchers in ecological, environmental and natural resource economics as well as sustainable development, globalisation and international trade. Practitioners and policy-makers at all levels will find this resource both interesting and instrumental to their work

Many ecological economists have called for a rapid transition to a low-growth & eventual steady-state economy. In response, a number of observers have questioned the capacity for a democratic-capitalist system to achieve such a goal. Others simply refute the suggestion that growth needs to be curtailed. It is argued in this paper that: (a) growth is eventually detrimental to human well-being &, as a consequence, a steady-state economy is a long-run necessity; (b) a steady-state economy can accommodate the requirements of a capitalist system; & (c) a would-be-government wishing to impose the macro constraints advocated by ecological economists to bring forth a steady-state economy is potentially electable. As such, there is no reason why a steady-state economy & a democratic-capitalist system should not thrive in each other's presence. 1 Table, 3 Figures, 49 References. Adapted from the source document.

A decade has now passed since Daly made a plea for an environmental macroeconomics. Despite an expanding literature on 'green' national accounting and the efforts of ecological economists to measure the sustainable net benefits of a growing macroeconomy, it is only recently that Daly's plea has been adequately answered. This has been achieved with the incorporation by Heyes of an 'environmental equilibrium' or EE curve into the familiar IS–LM model. However, the IS–LM–EE model proposed by Heyes is incomplete. By extending Heyes' model to include the role of technological progress and the sustainable net benefits of economic activity, this paper shows that conclusions regarding the desirability of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies alter quite radically. Moreover, it sends out a clear message that environmental concerns should be incorporated into macroeconomic models. They should not be solely confined to microeconomics.