Frontier Issues in Ecological Economics

✍ Scribed by Philip A. Lawn

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 382
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Ecological economics formally emerged in the late 1980s in response to the failure of mainstream economic paradigms to deal adequately with the interdependence of social, economic and ecological systems. Frontier Issues in Ecological Economics focuses on a range of cutting-edge issues in the field of ecological economics and outlines plausible measures to achieve a more sustainable, just, and efficient world for all.Covering a broad range of key subjects, this book deals with some of the frontier issues that have recently emerged in ecological economics and those that continue to remain a source of disagreement and debate. In doing so, the book highlights the importance of natural capital, the limits to growth and markets in achieving sustainable development, the policy-guiding value of sustainable development indicators, ecological tax reform considerations, environmental-macroeconomic issues such as the reconciliation of the ecological sustainability and full employment objectives, and measures to deal with growing globalisation concerns. The book concludes with the optimistic assessment that a transition to a steady-state economy - necessary to achieve sustainable development - is entirely compatible with a democratic-capitalist system.Philip Lawn's latest book will appeal to academics and researchers working in the areas of ecological, environmental and natural resource economics, sustainable development, green national accounting, environmental management and development studies. Policymakers, environmental managers and NGOs will also appreciate this book.

✦ Table of Contents

COPYRIGHT......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
The author......Page 7
Acknowledgements......Page 8
PART I An introduction to ecological economics, sustainable development and the steady-state economy......Page 9
1. Introduction......Page 11
2. What is sustainable development?......Page 18
PART II Sustainable development and natural capital......Page 47
3. Is human-made capital an adequate long-run substitute for natural capital?......Page 49
4. The potential conflict between sustainability and welfare maximisation......Page 70
5. Natural resource prices and natural resource scarcity......Page 89
PART III Sustainable development indicators......Page 113
6. An introduction to sustainable development indicators......Page 115
7. An assessment of various measures of sustainable economic welfare......Page 131
8. Using a Fisherian measure of income to guide a nation’s transition to a steady-state economy......Page 155
9. Eco-efficiency indicators: theory and practice......Page 174
PART IV Sustainable development: theoretical and policy issues......Page 199
10. On the independence of the sustainability, distribution and efficiency goals......Page 201
11. Ecological tax reform: why and in what form?......Page 208
12. Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve exist? A theoretical perspective......Page 225
13. IS-LM-EE: incorporating an environmental equilibrium curve into the IS-LM model......Page 253
14. Reconciling the policy goals of full employment and ecological sustainability......Page 278
PART V Sustainable development and the international dimension......Page 299
15. Keynes, international governance arrangements and globalisation......Page 301
16. Increasing sustainable national income by restoring comparative advantage as the principle governing international trade......Page 322
17. The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development: another opportunity to address the scale and globalisation issues gone begging......Page 334
PART VI Conclusion......Page 341
18. Is a steady-state economy compatible with a democraticcapitalist system?......Page 343
Bibliography......Page 352
Index......Page 371