Ebook: Theory and Implementation of Economic Models for Sustainable Development

There is widespread concern for long-term environmental issues in relation to economic processes and developments. Among the concerned scientists are economists, who have taken up the challenge to apply economic insights and tools for the study of long-term environment-economy interactions, and to give the concept of sustainable development 'economic hands and feet'. This book presents a pluralistic perspective on efforts, problems and successes in this area. This collection of papers was originally prepared for an international symposium titled Economic Modelling of Sustainable Development: Between Theory and Practice, which was hosted by the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, on December 20th 1996. The main motivation for this symposium was that the usefulness of the concept of sustainable development for theoretical and applied modelling is still being debated; growth theorists, resource economists, ecological economists, policy makers and many others are trying to deal with the concept in various, and sometimes conflicting, ways. The aim of the symposium was to bring together different theoretical and implementational perspectives on modelling for sustainable development. We hope that this volume will inform a wide audience about the perspectives and progress in this important area of research, as well as stimulate further research, notably on applied modelling and practical methods for the analysis of sustainable development at various (spatial) scales. The papers have, in due course, been revised several times based on comments made by discus­ sants, referees and the editors.

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This volume contains a collection of surveys of the most important issues in formal - both theoretical and applied - analysis of sustainable development. Although the literature on the various aspects of sustainable development is very large, a systematic account of modelling of sustainable development - of which there are already many examples available - is largely lacking. This book contains sixteen contributions grouped under four headings: `Theoretical Approaches', `Empirical Testing and Delinking', `Measurement and Implementation', and `Policy and the International Dimension'.
From a modelling perspective, the problem of growth, trade and sustainability requires some kind of integration of theories and models on international trade, location theory, international policy coordination, economic growth and development, and resource and ecological processes. The general lesson emanating from this book is that we need to go beyond partial approaches.