Suchergebnisse

Production often causes pollution as a by-product. Once pollution problems become too severe, regulation is introduced by political authorities which forces the economy to make a transition to cleaner production processes. We model this transition as a change in "general purpose technology" (GPT) and investigate how it interferes with economic growth driven by qualityimprovements. The model gives an explanation for the inverted U-shaped relationship found in empirical research for many pollutants, often referred to as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). We provide an analytical foundation for the claim that the rise and decline of pollution can be explained by policyinduced technology shifts.

It was a visionary initiative, 20 years ago, to start a journal devoted to the intersection between environmental, resource and development economics. At the time, the 'Brundtland Report' was old enough to be recognized in policy discussions at many possible levels, IPCC had already published its first and second assessment reports, and the Kyoto Protocol was just shaping up. Over the first 20 years of EDE's life, interest in environment and development grew quickly if not explosively, both in research and in the (policy) field, as was witnessed by the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, 'Green Growth' initiatives (from 2008 onwards at UNEP, OECD and World Bank), and at Rio +20 in 2012; IPCC's fifth assessment report is expected this year.

AbstractHow sustainable is the growth pattern of a national economy? At first, answering this question seems almost impossible, since this would require knowing what happens and what can happen in the future. One needs to assess whether the investments we make today will be sufficient to provide future generations with the means to cope with imminent disasters like the exhaustion of minerals and vital resources, or other problems like increasing population pressure and climate change. One also needs to assess which combination of investment leads to the desired result. If entrepreneurs, managers and households already have problems in finding out what is the best mix of investment for them in their micro-environment, how can we answer the aggregate question that needs so much more information?

The chapters in the book cover a broad range of aspects regarding the relationship between natural resource use and long-term economic development. The book surveys existing literature as well as adds to frontier research. In particular, the following topics are studied: incentives for adoption and diffusion of clean technology, resource scarcity and limits to growth, international convergence of energy intensity, and the social norms shaping resource depletion.

Production often causes pollution as a by-product. Once pollution problems become too severe, regulation is introduced by political authorities which forces the economy to make a transition to cleaner production processes. We model this transition as a change in general purpose technology (GPT) and investigate how it interferes with economic growth driven by qualityimprovements. The model gives an explanation for the inverted U-shaped relationship found in empirical research for many pollutants, often referred to as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). We provide an analytical foundation for the claim that the rise and decline of pollution can be explained by policyinduced technology shifts.