Adger, W

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Selected Sources - The Real Wealth of Nations

Compiled by Marlene Roy - Information for Sustainable Development Project
Published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development

Adger, W. Neil and Florian Grohs. "Aggregate estimate of environmental degradation for Zimbabwe: does sustainable national income ensure sustainability?" Ecological Economics 11 (1994): 93-104. New York: Elsevier, 1994. 12 p.

Alderman, Harold. "Unitary versus collective models of the household: is it time to shift the burden of proof?" World Bank research observer 10 (February 1995): 1-19. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1995. 19 p.

Anderson, Victor. Alternative economic indicators. London: Routledge, 1991. 106 p.

Notes: Provides data (using proposed priority indicators) as a means of assessing current state of 14 major countries.
Contents: (Selected): The growth debate; Origins of national income accounting; The good indicator; Social indicators; Environmental indicators.

Beckerman, Wilfred. Small is stupid: blowing the whistle on the greens. London: Duckworth, 1995. 202 p.

Contents: Part I. The choice of priorities: 1 - Whose growth? Whose environment?, 2 - Poverty and the environment in the third world, 3 - Income levels and the environment, 4 - The problem of finite resources, or how we managed without Beckermonium, 5 - Biodiversity and the extinction of species, 6 - Global warming and scientific uncertainty, 7 - Global warming and the 'Precautionary Principle'; Part II. Growth, Welfare and Sustainability : 8 - Growth and welfare - must they conflict?, 9 - The 'Sustainable development' alternative, 10 - Why do anything for posterity?, 11 - Is discounting the future 'unfair' to future generations?, Conclusions : towards a balanced debate.

Abstract: This book challenges the assertion by many that we are headed for environmental catastrophe. The author discusses the flaws in the precautionary principle and sustainable development while arguing that alleviating many environmental problems lies with developing the economics necessary to enable the market to work in the economic sphere. The author suggests that the real environmental problems mainly rest in the developing world. Lack of access to clean drinking water and sanitation, urban squalor, and urban air pollution are the most serious problems. Other problems that are more international in their causes and effects include threats to fish stocks, transboundary acid rain, and serious losses to biodiversity. The author argues that sustainability should be interpreted purely as a technical characteristic of any project, programme or development path, not as implying any moral injunction of overriding criterion of choice. In addition, the 'optimal' choice for society is to maximize the present value of welfare over whatever time period is regarded as relevant given one's views on inter-generational justice. Further, he argues that since most environmentalists have now dropped 'strong' sustainability and now define the 'sustainability' condition in terms of how much contribution different components of the total capital stock contribute to welfare, insofar as society seeks to maximize welfare the sustainability condition becomes redundant and cannot even be treated as a constraint. The author does not support the view that discounting environmental costs and benefits is unfair to future generations. A more balanced approach to consideration of environmental issues is suggested.

Campiglio, Luigi. "The environment after Rio: international law and economics." International environment law and policy series. Boston: Kluwer Publishers, 1994. 285 p.

Contents: (Selected): Prospects for the future in the light of Agenda 21 and of the evolving principles of international environmental law: Polluter pays principle in the early 1990s, Management of water resources, Protection of the oceans in Agenda 21 and international environmental law, Is there anything new in the concept of sustainable development? (Hammond), Economic growth, technical progress and the environment (Musu, Role of technology), North South trade, property rights and the dynamics of the environment (Chichilnisky), Global environmental change, rationality and ethics (Zamaagni, Externalities, market incentives and efficiency), Poverty and the environment: is there a trade-off (Dasgupta, GDP and pollution, Net national product and sustainable development, Environmental degradation and children as producer goods).

Canada. Statistics Canada. National Accounts and Environment Division. Discussion papers. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1990. v. in box.

Contents: No.1 Natural resources and natural wealth. no.2 Statistical aspects of the application of geographic information systems in Canadian environmental statistics (Hamilton and Trant). no.3 Annotated bibliography of the resource and environmental accounting and valuation literature.no.4 Some issues in the development of natural resources satellite accounts : valuation of non-renewable resources (Gervais). no.5 Environmental statistics at Statistics Canada (Mitchell and Hamilton). no.6 Canadian experience in the development of environmental surveys. no.7 Proposed treatments of the environment and natural resources in the national accounts: a critical assessment. no.8 Organizing principles for environment statistics. no.9 The linkage of greenhouse gas emissions to economic activity using an augmented input/output model (Smith). no.10 The changing rural environment : a look at Eastern Ontario's Jock River Basin (Trant). no.11 Development of natural resource accounts : physical and monetary accounts for crude oil and natural gas reserves in Alberta (Born). no.12 Riding Mountain National Park: an island wilderness within a sea of agricultural development (Trant). no.13 Estimating changes in gross agricultural soil erosion by water : a case study for Manitoba (Trant and others). no.14 The Canadian national accounts environmental component: a status report. no.15 Natural resource stock accounts: physical and monetary accounts for crude oil and natural gas reserves in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. no.16 Environment spending and government accounting. no. 17 Environment spending and government accounting.

Chapman, Duane. Environment, income, and development in southern Africa: an analysis of the interaction of environmental and macro economics. EPAT/MUCIA working paper No.7. Madison: EPAT/MUCIA Research & Training, University of Wisconsin, 1992. 19 p.

Cobb, Clifford, Halstead, Ted, Rowe, Jonathan. "If the GDP is up, why is America down?" Atlantic Monthly (October 1995):59-78.

Abstract: Discusses why America needs new measures of progress, why they don't have them, and how they would change the social and political landscape.

Cobb, Clifford W. And John B. Cobb, Jr. The green national product: a proposed index of sustainable economic welfare. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994. 343 p.

Cobb, Clifford, Ted Halstead and Jonathan Rowe. The genuine progress indicator : summary of data and methodology. San Francisco, CA: Redefining Progress, 1995. 50 p.+

Contents: Foreword; Introduction : What is "the economy?", Why growth of GDP does not equal progress, The need for new measures of progress; Overview of the genuine progress indicator : Summary of the GPI methodology, The centrality of consumption; The GPI - Explanation by column; The GPI - data by column; Discussion of results.

Abstract: This document introduces a new measure of the economic well-being of the nation from 1950 to present. It broadens the conventional accounting framework to include the economic contributions of the family and community, and of the natural habitat, along with conventionally measured economic production. The deficiencies of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are outlined and the argument is made for a new measure called the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI). The methodology for calculating the GPI is presented. In contrast to the GDP's doubling from the 1950s to present, the GPI increased during the 1950s and 1960s but declined by roughly 45 since 1970. This rate of decline accelerated between the 1970s and the 1990s.

Commission of the European Communities. Directions for the EU on environmental indicators and green national accounting : the integration of environmental and economic information systems. Brussels: CEC, 1994. 5 v. in 1

Contents: Also includes Working Group "Statistics of the Environment" , joint Eurostat/EFTA Group; Eurostat Pressure Index Project Environmental pressure index, Lots 6-16

Dieren, Wouter van (ed). Taking nature into account: a report to the Club of Rome. New York: Copernicus (Springer Verlag), 1995. 332 p.

Contents: Introduction; Economic growth and western society; Paradoxes of growth; Sustainable development; Environmental adjustment of the system of national accounts; Taking nature into account: conclusions and recommendations.

Abstract: Examines the consequences of continuing to ignore the complex codependency of environment and economy. Review existing methodologies and makes recommendations for adjusting the way we think about and measure economic progress.

Gallon, Gary T. "The role of green economics in Canada." Environmental Economics International research paper no.7. Toronto: Environmental Economics International, 1992.

Contents: (Selected): Green economics replaces brown economics; How to foster the development of green economics: Support business initiatives, Expand research and development, Round Tables on Environment and the Economy; Three new green technologies: Twist wing windmill blade, The reusable envelope, Solmate energy saver; Green economic market growth & job creation; A new green accounting approach; Native peoples and other cultures' economies; Environmental collapse of the cod fisheries.

Gillies, A. M. Where to start? Action plan : protecting the environment and reducing Canada's deficit. Winnipeg: International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1994. 39 p.

Notes: "The greening of government taxes and subsidies". Prepared as a discussion paper for consideration by governments and citizens. Offshoot of a larger IISD study, International casebook on leading practices, which will focus on "leading edge" budget reforms in Europe and North America. Includes references.

Contents: (Selected): Forest loss; Agriculture danger signals; Energy and global warming; Ecological tax reform: Environment-friendly taxation; Income-friendly taxation; Incentives for a clean and green economy; Jobs and competitiveness.

Girvan, Norman P. and David A. Simmons (eds.) Caribbean Conservation Association. Caribbean ecology and economics: [thirteen selected papers from the conference, Nov 1989]. St. Michael, BB: Caribbean Conservation Association, 1991. 431 p.

Conference: Caribbean Conference on Economics and the Environment (1989 : Barbados).

Contents: Economics and the environment in the Caribbean, an overview by N.P. Girvan. Balancing the budget between nature and society: environmental considerations in economic activity and waste management, by N.C. Singh. Notes towards an environmental macroeconomics, by H.E. Daly. The environment and sustainable development: the economic contribution, by E.B. Barbier and others. A sustainable ecological economic development model, by R.R. Everitt and others. Environmental resources in national income accounting, by R. Repetto. Project appraisal: evolving applications of environmental economics, by J.A. Dixon. The role of economic analysis/policy in sustainable development: a market incentive approach, by D.A. Pantin. Natural disasters: linking economics and the environment with a vengeance, by J.C. Vermeiren. Tourism styles and policy responses in the open economy-closed environment context, by J. McElroy & K.de Albuquerque. Theoretical and empirical issues in non-priced valuation of environmental resources water development projects in Guyana, by C.A. Braithwaite. Conflicting claims on the Antigua coastal resources: the case of the McKinnons and Jolly Hill Salt Ponds, by K. de Albuquerque. An approach to economic evaluation of tropical wetlands: with examples from Guatemala and Nicaragua, by E.B. Barbier. Economic aspects of the Point Lisas case study, by G. Manwaring and H. McShine.

Goodland, Robert, Herman Daly and Salah el Serafy (eds.). Environmentally sustainable economic development : building on Brundtland. Environmental working paper no.46. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1991. iv, 85 p.

Contents: The case that the world has reached limits (Goodland); From empty-world to full-world economics (Daly); On the strategy of trying to reduce economic inequality by expanding the scale of human activity (Haavelmo and Hansen); GNP and market prices: wrong signals for sustainable economic success that mask environmental destruction (Tinbergen and Hueting); Sustainability, income measurement and growth (El Serafy); Project evaluation and sustainable development (Mikesell); Sustainable development: the role of investment (von Droste and Dogse); The ecological effects of sustainability: investing in natural capital (Costanza); From growth to sustainable development (Brown, Postel, and Flavin).

Goodman, Robert, Herman Daly and Salah el Serafy, Salah (eds.). Population, technology and lifestyle: the transition to sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1993. xvi, 154 p.

Contents: (Selected): GNP and market prices: wrong signals for sustainable economic success that mask environmental destruction, by Jan Tinbergen and Roefie Hueting. Sustainability, income measurement, and growth, by Salah El Serafy. Project evaluation and sustainable development, by Raymond Mikesell. Ecological economics of sustainability: investing in natural capital, by Robert Costanza. Ten reasons why northern income growth is not the solution to southern poverty, by Robert Goodland and Herman E. Daly.

Inter-Secretariat Working Group on National Accounts, Commission of the European Communities-Eurostat, International Monetary Fund, OECD, United Nations and World Bank. System of national accounts 1993. Washington, DC: World Bank, 1993. 711 p.

Contents: Introduction; Overview; Flows, stocks and accounting rules; Institutional units and sectors; establishments and industries; The production account; The primary distribution of income account; The secondary distribution of income account; The use of income account; The capital account; The financial account; Other changes in assets account; The balance sheet; The rest of the world account (external transactions account); Supply and use tables and input-output; Price and volume measures; Population and labour inputs; Functional classifications; Application of the integrated framework to various circumstances and needs; Social accounting matrices; Satellite analysis and accounts.

Abstract: The System is a comprehensive, consistent and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts intended to meet the needs of government and private-sector analysts, policy makers and decision takers. It is designed for use in countries with market economies, whatever their stage of economic development, and also in countries in transition to market economies.

International Institute for Environment and Development Sustainable Agriculture Programme. Special issue on applications of wealth ranking. RRA Notes no.15. London: IIED, 1992. 115 p.

Contents: (Selected): The elusive poor wealth of ways to find them: report on IDS/IIED Seminar on Wealth and Well-Being Ranking; Villagers' perception of rural poverty through the mapping methods of PRA; A simple method for scoring housing conditions as income proxy in Ethiopia; Cultural sensitivities on the Rapid Appraisal team.

Kemball-Cook, David and others (eds.). New Economics Foundation. The green budget: an emergency programme for the UK. London: Green Print, 1991. 120 p.

Notes: Includes bibliography. Result of a Green Party 1990 budget booklet.

Contents: Economic instruments: Direct taxation and basic income, Environmental taxation, Indirect taxation, Monetary policy; The supply side: Energy, Transport, Defence, Agriculture and the countryside, Housing, Education, training and research; Other dimensions: The informal economy and the third sector, The local economy, Local government, Europe, world trade and global security; Budget results.

Maler, Karl-Goran. National accounts and environmental resources. Beijer Reprint series no. 4. Stockholm: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1991.

Abstract: In the paper, optimal growth theory is used to derive the appropriate definition of the net national product concept, when there are environmental resources and environmental damage to take into account. The basic conclusions are that conventional defined NP should be corrected by deducting environmental damage and adding.

Razin, Assaf, Sadka, Efraim. Population economics. Cambridge, MA: M I T Press, 1995. 275 p.

Contents: Introduction; Population dynamics: summary indicators; The microecononmics of fertility and child quality; Number and quality of children; Children as a capital good; Ethical considerations; Social evaluation of population size; Externalizes and corrective population polices; Malthus's hypothesis; Income distribution and social security; The intergenerational role of social security; Intragenerational income distribution policies; Inter- and intragenerational distribution: the extended role of social security; Growth and development; Engines of growth; Development and population: a survey; Migration and trade; Empirical regularities and trends; Factor and goods mobility and international migration; Normative issues of international migration.

Abstract: The authors systematically examine the microeconomic implications of people's decisions about how many children to have and how to provide for them on population trends and social issues of population policy. They analyze how these decisions affect labor supply, consumption, savings and bequests, investments in human capital, and economic growth, along with related new issues such as migration and income redistribution across generations, in an integrated micro-economic framework.

Repetto, Robert. "Earth in the balance sheet : incorporating natural resources in national income accounts". Environment (September 1992) : 13-45.

Seifert, Eberhard K. Wuppertal Institute. Environmental performance: sustainability indicators and green accounting. Wuppertal: Wuppertal Institute, 1994. 10 p.

Serageldin, Ismail. World Bank. Sustainability and the wealth of nations : preliminary draft. Washington, DC: World Bank, 1995. 19 p.

Serageldin, Ismail. and John O'Connor. Monitoring environmental progress. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, October, 1995. 82 p.

Turner, R. Kerry (ed). Sustainable environmental economics and management : principles and practice. London: Belhaven Press, 1993. 389 p.

Contents: The politics of sustainability (O'Riordan); Environmental economics, policy consensus and political empowerment (Refclift); Valuation of the environment, methods and techniques: the contingent valuation method (Bateman); Valuing environmental assets in developed countries (Willis & Benson); "Heritage landscapes": a new approach to the preservation of semi-natural landscapes in Canada and the United States (Henderson); Valuation of environmental resources and impacts in developing countries (Barbier); Sustainable national income and natural resource degradation in Zimbabwe (Adger); Controlling water pollution using market mechanisms: results from empirical studies (Hanley).

United Nations. "Integrated environmental and economic accounting." (Interim ed.) Studies in Methods Series F, no. 61. New York: UN, 1993. 182 p.

Contents: Introductory overview; Environment related desegregation of the system of national accounts (SNA); Linkage of physical and monetary accounting; Imputed environmental costs; Possible extensions of the SEEA; Implementing the SEEA.

Abstract: The objective of this document is to provide a conceptual basis for implementing a SNA system for integrated environmental and economic accounting (SEEA). This is achieved by the linking of conventional economic accounts with environmental and natural resource accounts.

Young, Michael D. UNESCO International Coordinating Council of the Programme on Man and the Biosphere. Sustainable investment and resource use : equity, environmental integrity and economic efficiency. Man and the biosphere serie no.9. Paris: UNESCO, 1992. 176 p.

Contents: (Selected): Linkages between economic and ecological theory; Necessary conditions and policy principles for sustainable resource use and investment; Building a sustainable economy: macro-economic policy opportunities: rate controls, Wealth transfer; Putting the environment into GDP, NDP and eco-GDP, Revenue collection, International trading arrangements, Exchange the market: micro-economic policy opportunities: The policy tool kit, Setting resource and environmental prices, Policy instrument choice; Regulations; Economic instruments that promote sustainable changes, Rewarding biodiversity maintenance.

By: Marlene Roy - email: mroy@iisdpost.iisd.ca
Date last updated: February 2, 1996
Page URL: http://iisd1.iisd.ca/ic/info/ss9602.htm