Hybrid Economic-Environmental Accounts


Book Description

National Accounting Matrices of Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) tables are used to analyze a range of environmental pressures and economic data resulting from consumption and production patterns – helping us gain a far better notion of the consequences of individuals’, households’ and firms’ actions for the world we live in. This book deals with the increasingly complex issues of hybrid environmental and economic accounts. The perspective of environmental accounting for the analysis of the relationships between the economic and environmental systems, especially regarding the satellite accounts like NAMEA, is relatively recent, and partly derives from the conceptual and applied deficits that have emerged during the setting up of green GDP or GNP measures as alternative measures of accounting. NAMEA provides a comprehensive and integrated picture of the economic system in association with the environmental system (physical pressures such as emissions) by a sector classification. This book is an integrated collection of complementary papers that revolve around the issue of environment-economic accounting In the first part a historical background and empirical issues related to the NAMEA-type table definitions and estimations open the book, followed by some applications and analyses mainly applied to a sub-national level. The second part opens the window to international case studies for different EU countries and studies with methodological insights. These policy-oriented, original works are primarily from an applied perspective, although theoretical aspects are also fully developed. The book should be of use to Environmental and Ecological economics students and researchers, as well as those studying the more general field of Environment studies.







The Dynamics of Environmental and Economic Systems


Book Description

Exploiting econometric techniques aimed at dealing with the dynamics of economic systems and the heterogeneity of agents performances, the volume integrates innovation-based reasoning with ex-post analyses, and presents ex-ante analyses able to evaluate the role of climate change policies by using computable general equilibrium models such as the Global Trade Analysis Project for Energy (GTAP-E). The authors merge and use a range of datasets, including OECD-PATSTAT and STAN, to test novel techniques informed by evolutionary economic theories and the Porter hypothesis. The immediate relevance and applicability of the models will strengthen the hand of policy analysts for whom the dynamic efficiency of environmental policy is a new, high-profile evaluation criterion.




Cultures of Sustainability and Wellbeing


Book Description

Cultures of Sustainability and Wellbeing: Theories, Histories and Policies examines and assesses the interdependence between sustainability and wellbeing by drawing attention to humans as producers and consumers in a post-human age. Why wellbeing ought to be regarded as essential to sustainable development is explored first from multifocal theoretical perspectives encompassing sociology, literary criticism and socioeconomics, second in relation to institutions and policies, and third with a focus on specific case studies across the world. Wellbeing and its sustainability are defined in terms of biological and cultural diversity; stages of advancement in science and technology; notions of citizenship and agency; geopolitical scenarios and environmental conditions. Wellbeing and sustainability call for enquiries into human capacities in ontological, epistemological and practical terms. A view of sustainability that revolves around material and immaterial wellbeing is based on the assumption that life quality, comfort, happiness, security, safety always posit humans as both recipients and agents. Risk and resilience in contemporary societies define the intrinsically human ability to make and consume, to act and adapt, driving the search for and fruition of wellbeing. How to sustain the dual process of exploitation and regeneration is a task that requires integrated approaches from the sciences and the humanities, jointly tracing a worldwide cartography with clear localisations. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers interested in sustainability through conceptual and empirical approaches including social theory, literary and cultural studies, environmental economics and human ecology, urbanism and cultural geography.




The Economics of Climate Change and the Change of Climate in Economics


Book Description

Climate change is without question the single most important issue the world faces over the next hundred years. The most recent scientific data have led to the conclusion that the globally averaged net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming and that continued greenhouse gas emissions at or above current rates would cause this process to continue to the severe detriment of our environment. This unequivocal link between climate change and human activity requires an urgent, world-wide shift towards a low carbon economy and coordinated policies and measures to manage this transition. The starting point and core idea of this book is the long-held observation that the threat of climate change calls for a change of climate in economics. Inherent characteristics of the climate problem including complexity, irreversibility and deep uncertainty challenge core economic assumptions and mainstream economic theory appears inappropriately equipped to deal with this crucial issue. Kevin Maréchal shows how themes and approaches from evolutionary and ecological economics can be united to provide a theoretical framework that is better suited to tackle the problem.




Sustaining Prosperity, Nature and Wellbeing


Book Description

This book explores what is needed for an overall evaluation of the prosperity and wellbeing of people within a framework of sustaining the economy, environment and development. The book begins by assessing the validity of available data, indicators and indices in decision and policy making. It describes what the data tell us about the effects of economic activity on the quality of life and prosperity of people and nations, now and in the future, and highlights how a reliance on partial and distorted information can thwart rational policies. It also examines whether less tangible notions of wellbeing and happiness lend themselves to quantification and prediction. Overall, Bartelmus demonstrates the need for integrated accounting and analysis to revise policy priorities around environmental, social, economic and sustainability concerns. Confronting the persisting polarization of environmentalists and economists, this book will be of great relevance to students, scholars and professionals with an interest in environmental and ecological economics, sustainability indicators and their use in integrative policy.




The Social Footprints of Global Trade


Book Description

This book discussing in detail the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) of the global economy using the comprehensive Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) technique. The content is presented in two parts, the first of which offers an introduction to social accounting and how it has been developed over the past few years with details on the methodologies and databases used. The second part of the book describes the footprints of the social accounts that have the highest impact on people’s well-being (employment, income, working conditions,and inequality) and how they are linked to international trade. The need for reporting on such indicators falls within the purview of corporate/national social responsibility (part of the Triple Bottom Line). The book offers a valuable contribution to the literature for researchers and students engaged in the social sciences, human rights, and the implications of international trade on labour in developing countries.iv>




Climate Economics


Book Description

Climate science paints a bleak picture: The continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions is increasingly likely to cause irreversible and catastrophic effects. Urgent action is needed to prepare for the initial rounds of climatic change, which are already unstoppable. While the opportunity to avert all climate damage has now passed, well-designed mitigation and adaptation policies, if adopted quickly, could still greatly reduce the likelihood of the most tragic and far-reaching impacts of climate change. Climate economics is the bridge between science and policy, translating scientific predictions about physical systems into projections about economic growth and human welfare that decision makers can most readily use but it has too often consisted of an overly technical, academic approach to the problem. Getting climate economics right is not about publishing the cleverest article of the year but rather about helping solve the dilemma of the century. The tasks ahead are daunting, and failure, unfortunately, is quite possible. Better approaches to climate economics will allow economists to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. This book analyzes potential paths for improvement.




New Perspectives on Structural Change


Book Description

Here is a comprehensive edited volume that outlines the historical roots and state-of-the-art debates on the role of structural change in the process of economic development, including both orthodox and heterodox perspectives and contributions from prominent scholars in this field.




Peak Oil, Climate Change, and the Limits to China’s Economic Growth


Book Description

This book studies the limits imposed by the depletion of fossil fuels and the requirements of climate stabilization on economic growth with a focus on China. The book intends to examine the potentials of various energy resources, including oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and other renewables, as well as energy efficiency. Unlike many other books on the subject, this book intends to argue that, despite the large potentials of renewable energies and energy efficiency, economic growth eventually will have to be brought to an end as China and the world undertake the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies. China has overtaken the US to become the world’s largest energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter. Their energy consumption is dominated by coal and China now accounts for one quarter of the world’s total carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, China is set to become the world’s largest oil importer in the next decade. This book will consider energy development in the broader context of economic and social changes, especially the historical dynamics of the capitalist world system. Historical lessons of capitalism and socialism will be discussed. The book will evaluate the implications of ecological limits to growth on the economic system and argue that the existing capitalist system is fundamentally incompatible with ecological sustainability.