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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $109.50

Format:
Paperback
504 pp.
Numerous tables and line drawings, 156 mm x 234 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199298006

Publication date:
July 2006

Imprint: OUP UK


Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability

New Policy Options

Edited by Ramón López and Michael A. Toman

Series : Initiative for Policy Dialogue Series

Economic growth as we know it today cannot persist indefinitely if it entails continuous degradation of natural resources and the environment. While in a few countries around the world it appears that environmental degradation has been the result of rapid economic growth, in the vast majority of the developing countries the environment has been equally spoiled despite slow or even negative economic growth.

This book provides new insights on the common roots of economic stagnation, poverty and environmental degradation which, unfortunately, generally reside in misguided government policies and priorities. By doing this, the volume seeks to provide a broader policy option framework than those found in conventional policy analyses, mainly dominated by the "Washington Consensus". It shows that a major omission of the conventional view is that governments tend to allocate government expenditures in a biased way favouring subsidies to the economic elites to the detriment of investments in public goods, including human capital, R&D, as well as the development of institutions (environmental and otherwise), which are vital for long run growth, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

Readership : Graduate students of economic development, rural sociology, environmental economics, governance and political science. Policy analysts interested in the environment and economic development in general. International organizations, NGOs, and government aid organizations.

Reviews

  • `'This is an important collection of essays. They are of a consistently high standard and the authors in general are among the leading writers in this much neglected field.''
    The late Professor David Pearce

OverviewRamón López and Michael A. Toman: Sustainable Development: Towards a Broader Policy Agenda
1. Edward B Barbier: Natural Capital, Resource Dependency and Poverty in Developing Countries: The Problem of "Dualism within Dualism"
2. Kirk Hamilton and Rashid Hassan: Measuring Development Prospects by 'Greening' the National Accounts
3. Jon Strand and B. Gabriela Mundaca: Impacts of Macroeconomic Policies on the Environment, Natural Resources and Welfare in Developing Countries
4. Robert T. Deacon and Bernardo Mueller: Political Economy and Natural Resource Use
5. Ramón López: Structural Adjustment and Sustainable Development
6. Brian R. Copeland and Sumeet Gulati: Trade and the Environment in Developing Economies
7. 4. J.E. Somanathan and Thomas Sterner: Environmental Policy Instruments and Instututions in Developing Countries
8. Douglas F. Barnes and Michael A. Toman: Energy, Equity and Economic Development
9. R. Maria Saleth and Ariel Dinar: Water Institutional Reforms in Developing Countries: Insights, Evidences, and Case Studies
10. Anil Markandya: Water Quality Issues in Developing Countries
11. Alan J. Krupnick: Urban Air Pollution, Health and Policy Instruments
12. Heidi J. Albers and Paul Ferraro: The Economics of Terrestrial Biodiversity Conservation in Developing Nations
13. Erwin Bulte and Stefanie Engel: Conservation of Tropical Forests: Addressing Market Failure
14. Michael A. Toman: Appendix

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Ramón López is a Professor of Economics at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland at College Park. He is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Bonn (ZEF) and Chair of the Publication Review Committee at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. Professor López is the author or co-author of several books on economic growth, rural poverty and the environment and has held various editorial responsibilities in several important journals.
Michael A. Toman is an adjunct faculty member in the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC; and in the Bren School of the Environment, University of California, Santa Barbara. He also works as a senior environmental economist in a multilateral economic development organization. He is the (co) author and (co) editor of several books on the economics of energy, environmental protection, climate change, and sustainable development.

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Special Features

  • Challenges the view that environmental degradation is the result of too rapid economic growth in the developing world
  • Provides an analytical and updated review of the literature on trade and the environment, political economy, poverty
  • Seeks to broaden the debate on sustainable development and incorporate new options in the policy dialogue