the carbon footprint of uk households 1990 2004 a socio economically disaggregated quasi multi regional input output model this paper presents a socio economically disaggregated framework for attributing co2 emissions to people s high level functional needs based around a quasi multi regional input output qmrio model the study in theory takes into account all co2 emissions that arise from energy used in production of goods and services to satisfy uk household demand whether the emissions occur in the uk or abroad results show that co2 emissions attributable to households were 15 above 1990 levels in 2004 and that although absolute decoupling occurred between household expenditure and co2 during the uk s switch from coal to gas in the early 1990s since then only slight relative decoupling is evident the proportion of co2 that arises outside uk borders in support of uk consumption is rising and reducing these emissions is particularly problematic in a global trading system investigation into the carbon footprint of different segments of the uk population shows wide variation the segment with the highest carbon footprint emits 64 more co2 than the segment with the lowest results show that recreation and leisure are responsible for over one quarter of co2 emissions in a typical uk household in 2004 we conclude that expanding lifestyle aspirations are significant factors in driving household co2 emissions but the study also emphasizes that attention must be paid to the infrastructures and institutions that result in considerable amounts of co2 being locked up in basic household activities through which people meet their everyday needs for subsistence protection and communication with family and friends the findings highlight the sheer scale of the challenge facing uk policy makers and suggest that policies should be targeted towards segments of society responsible for the highest carbon footprints

sustainability as a fair bequest an evaluation challenge abstract in contrast to conventional approaches the conceptualisation of sustainability as fair bequest makes it possible to consider a finite time horizon valuation is necessary to determine whether the bequest package that is passed on from one generation to the next is fair acknowledging the merits as well as the limitations of economic price theory this paper differentiates between three classes of valuables the essential the useful and the unique it is argued that a fair bequest package should contain items from each of the classes because the three classes are incommensurable fairness of the bequest cannot be expressed by a single figure like a non declining total value of the package we then discuss which methods are appropriate for describing a bequest package with respect to its fairness

evolutionary theories in environmental and resource economics approaches and applications recent advances in evolutionary theory have important implications for environmental economics a short overview is offered of evolutionarythinking in economics subsequently major concepts and approaches inevolutionary biology and evolutionary economics are presented andcompared attention is devoted among others to darwinian selection punctuated equilibrium sorting mechanisms lamarckian evolution coevolution and self organization basic features of evolution such assustained change irreversible change unpredictability qualitativechange and disequilibrium are examined it is argued that there are anumber of fundamental differences as well as similarities betweenbiological and economic evolution next some general implications ofevolutionary thinking for environmental economics are outlined this isfollowed by a more detailed examination of potential uses ofevolutionary theories in specific areas of environmental economics including sustainability and long run development theories technologyand environment ecosystem management and resilience spatial evolutionand environmental processes and design of environmental policy

human ecosystem interactions a dynamic integrated model abstract we develop an interactive simulation model that links ecological and economic systems and explore the dynamics of harvest patterns as they simultaneously affect natural and human capital our models represent both single and multiple systems the level of natural capital is influenced by interactions of 1 natural capital growth and non human influenced depletion 2 ecological fluctuations 3 harvest rules and 4 biological transfers from one ecological system to another we focus first on isolated systems in which there are no biological transfers between units and humans rely for subsistence on the resource thus both the economic and ecological portions of the system are relatively independent of other systems in this case the maximum sustainable harvest rate depends on the local carrying capacity the stock growth rate and fluctuations in such ecological variables as rainfall and temperature which are extrinsic to the stock human harvest but nonetheless affect stock levels next we address spatially complex situations in which biological resources move from one spatial unit to others in these models the greater the potential movement of stocks across ecosystems the more any particular human sub system can increase its harvesting rate without danger of its own collapse although at a cost to neighboring subsystems

resource use institutions and sustainability a tale of two pacific island cultures this paper examines two pacific island cultures easter island and tikopia and the relationship between natural resource systems human made capital population growth and institutional change easter island followed a preindustrial society pattern of overshoot and collapse however tikopia evolved cultural practices leading to zero population growth and sustainable resource use using a modified lotka volterra predator prey model we find 1 investment in human made capital does not necessarily eliminate the boom and bust cycles of economic activity and population observed in many past societies and 2 institutional adaptation and resource conservation can be critical in achieving population stability

a complex systems approach to the value of ecological resources a theory of value sits at the core of every school of economic thought and directs the allocation of resources to competing uses ecological resources complicate the modem neoclassical approach to determining value due to their complex nature considerable non market values and the difficulty in assigning property rights application of the market model through economic valuation only provides analytical solutions based on virtual markets and neither the demand nor supply side techniques of valuation can adequately consider the complex set of biophysical and ecological relations that lead to the provision of ecosystem goods and services this paper sets out a conceptual framework for a complex systems approach to the value of ecological resources this approach is based on there being both an intrinsic quality of ecological resources and a subjective evaluation by the consumer both elements are necessary for economic value this conceptual framework points the way towards a theory of value that incorporates both elements so has implications for principles by which ecological resources can be allocated c 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

systemic crises in hierarchical ecological economies human beings are both the slaves and the masters of the ecosystems in which they live this paper examines the interrelationship be tween economic decision making hierarchies and ecological hierarchies conditions under which dis continuous changes can occur are presented both for top down and bottom up causes appropriate institutional arrangements for minimizing ecological disruption are analyzed and depend on the nature of the relationship between the economic and eco logical hierarchies in some cases this will involve self managed economic units operating at the ap propriate level of the ecological hierarchy jel q20

transfers in cash and in kind theory meets the data we review theoretical explanations for in kind transfers in light of the limited empirical evidence after reviewing the traditional paternalistic arguments we consider explanations based on imperfect information and self targeting we then discuss the large literature on in kind programs as a way of improving the efficiency of the tax system and a range of other possible explanations including the samaritan s dilemma pecuniary effects credit constraints asymmetric information amongst agents and political economy considerations our reading of the evidence suggests that paternalism and interdependent preferences are leading overall explanations for the existence of in kind transfer programs but that some of the other arguments may apply to specific cases political economy considerations must also be part of the story

the design of fishing right systems the nsw experience abstract in 1994 the australian state of new south wales nsw passed legislation to introduce a fishery share system in some ways it is similar to the itq or individual transferable quota fishery management systems found in new zealand iceland australia canada and other countries the focus of the system however is on fisheries rather than species in most of these fisheries a combination of input and output controls are used special design features include allotment of shares in the fishery rather than in quotas and a structure that forces adaptive resource management the system is designed to maximise the probability that fishery use will remain both sustainable and consistent with social objectives as they change through time the system s conceptual framework is of relevance to other fisheries and also many other industries that use natural resources consistent with periodically revised management plans rights to harvest specific amounts of fish or to use certain classes of boats and gear are issued in proportion to the number of shares held in each fishery fishery being flexibly defined by region and habitat with or without further specification by gear type species group or single species the management plan might for example specify a relationship between number of shares and size of boat or net any quotas are allocated in proportion to the number of shares held subject to compliance with periodically reviewed share conditions rights are perpetual and give each fisher a direct financial interest in the future of the fishery shares are mortgageable and fully transferable driven by the management plan structural adjustment is delegated to the market and individual fishers a dual property right structure is used to minimise transfer costs encourage self enforcement and compliance

the ecological economic and social importance of the oceans abstract the oceans have long been recognized as one of humanity s most important natural resources their vastness has made them appear to be limitless sources of food transportation recreation and awe the difficulty of fencing and policing them has left them largely as open access resources to be exploited by anyone with the means however in recent times we have begun to reach the limits of the oceans and must now begin to utilize and govern them in a more sustainable way this paper summarizes emerging information on the interrelated ecological economic and social importance of the oceans and on developing institutions for their sustainable governance in addition to their traditional importance as sources of primary and secondary production and biodiversiy the importance of the oceans in global material and energy cycles is now beginning to be better appreciated integrated models of the global ocean atmosphere terrestrial biosphere system reveal the critical role of the oceans in atmospheric gas and climate regulation and for water nutrient and waste cycling recent estimates of the economic value of the marketed and non marketed ecosystem services of the oceans indicate a huge contribution to human welfare from the functions mentioned above plus raw materials recreational and cultural services the oceans have been estimated to contribute a total of 21 trillion us year to human welfare compared with a global gnp of 25 trillion us with 60 of this from coastal and shelf systems and the other 40 from the open ocean and with the oceans contributing 60 of the total economic value of the biosphere costanza et al 1997 the value of the world s ecosystem services and natural capital nature 387 253 260 the social importance of the oceans for global transportation and as a unifying element in the cultures of many coastal countries cannot be overestimated however the cultural traditions of open access must be replaced with more appropriate property rights regimes and governance structures some alternative sustainable governance ideas are briefly discussed emphasizing the need for an expanded deliberative process to develop a shared vision of a sustainable use of oceans

ecological thresholds a survey abstract the existence of ecological discontinuities and thresholds has been recognised by ecological economics as a key feature to take into account in the study of environment economy interactions this paper reviews some theoretical developments and empirical studies dealing with ecological phenomena involving non linear dynamics the literature about this issue reveals that there is abundant evidence of discontinuities and threshold effects as the consequence of human perturbations on ecological systems however due to the complexities involved the predictive capacity of ecology is limited and large uncertainties still remain

on the intergenerational allocation of natural resources it is known hartwick and others that under standard assumptions a society that invests in reproducible capital the competitive rents on its current extraction of exhaustible resources will enjoy a consumption stream constant in time it is shown here that this result can be interpreted as saying that an appropriately defined stock of capital including the initial endowment of resources is being maintained intact and that consumption can be interpreted as the interest on that patrimony this seems like a useful rule of thumb for policy

a theory of paternalistic in kind transfers consumption externalities are frequently cited as a justification for in kind transfers in the presence of consumption externalities in kind transfers may achieve a pareto optimal allocation this paper argues that actual in kind transfers do not achieve a pareto optimum but instead tend to produce a paternalistic optimum which caters to the preferences of taxpayers donors and ignores the preferences of recipients

on the relative efficiency of cash transfers and subsidies i introduction economic theory has long argued that to raise the welfare of an individual at the lowest possible cost cash grants are more efficient than subsidies to the consumption of specific commodities indeed a demonstration of this result now constitutes part of many undergraduate price theory courses and most undergraduate courses in public finance put simply cash grants do not create the deadweight losses in consumption that would result from the distortion of relative prices 1 as familiar as this demonstration may be subsidies to selected commodities notably housing education food and health care represent a substantial fraction of government aid to the disadvantaged citizens of many countries 2 it is natural for us to ask why this is so as gary becker 1983 1985 has argued it is in no government s interest to transfer resources in a pareto inefficient manner if a switch to cash grants could make both recipients and donors better off by reducing the deadweight loss why would any government not make such a change to the several extant theories this paper adds another subsidies may be more effective than cash grants at raising the welfare of all members of a family when parents put insufficient in society s view weight on their children s welfare in household decision making when a government directs resources to a deserving family in which all consumption decisions are made by the head of the household an agency problem arises the head as the government s agent may not allocate resources in the way the government would wish by constraining the transfer using subsidies or in kind gifts the government may be able to influence the intrafamily allocations in a desired way ii subsidies vs cash grants there can be little doubt that a large fraction of aid to low income households in the united states comes in the form of subsidies 3 table i presents some statistics on the amount spent by the federal government on the largest programs table i some federal programs for low income individuals 1982 billions cash transfers aid to families with dependent children 8 00 supplemental security income 7 7 in kind and subsidies medicaid 17 4 medicare 44 8 food stamps 11 0 child nutrition 4 0 housing assistance 7 9 employment and training 4 5 social services 6 7 compensatory education 4 0 legal aid 0 3 low income energy assistance 1 7 figure is for 1981 source rosen 1985 88 the reader might glean at least two striking facts from this table the first is the magnitude of the redistribution represented here when one adds to this list the transfers by other levels of government for example for education it becomes clear that redistribution is a major function of american governments 4 second a significant share of this redistribution is done using subsidies including in kind transfers the public finance literature offers a number of explanations for the popularity of subsidies 5 taxpayers or their elected representatives might simply be paternalistic by this we mean that they evaluate the recipient s welfare using a utility function other than the recipient s 6 though undeniably interested in the welfare of those less fortunate these taxpayers might not be willing to provide cash if some fraction will be applied toward the purchase of alcohol tobacco or other luxury or disreputable commodities it may also be that there exist certain goods that society feels should be distributed more equally than free market allocations would provide

national accounts and environmental resources 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 the value of the net change of all resources

allocation distribution and scale towards an economics that is efficient just and sustainable abstract the practical policy of issuing tradeable permits for depletion and pollution requires for its implementation the clear separation of the three basic economic goals of efficient allocation equitable distribution and sustainable scale economic theory needs to catch up with policy in recognizing that scale issues cannot be reduced to either allocation or distribution

towards an ecological economics of sustainability abstract persistent disagreement both as to the interpretation to be given to sustainability and as to the relation between ecological and economic sustainability has hindered the development of an ecological economics of sustainable resource use this paper identifies the main concepts of sustainability deriving from the two disciplines in order to explore the difference implied by an ecological approach to the problem it is argued that present economic and ecological approaches are largely disjoint and that they address basically different phenomena by combining the efficiency requirements of what is usually thought of as economic sustainability with the stability requirements of an ecological approach it is shown that an intertemporally efficient allocation of resources that satisfies the conditions for constant levels of consumption is not necessary to assure ecological sustainability ecological sustainability requires that the allocation of economic resources should not result in the instability of the economy environment system as a whole

the effect of urbanization on co2 emissions in emerging economies the theories of ecological modernization and urban environmental transition both recognize that urbanization can have positive and negative impacts on the natural environment with the net effect being hard to determine a priori this study uses recently developed panel regression techniques that allow for heterogeneous slope coefficients and cross section dependence to model the impact that urbanization has on co2 emissions for a panel of emerging economies the estimated contemporaneous coefficients on the energy intensity and affluence variables are positive statistically significant and fairly similar across different estimation techniques by comparison the estimated contemporaneous coefficient on the urbanization variable is sensitive to the estimation technique in most specifications the estimated coefficient on the urbanization variable is positive but statistically insignificant the implications of these results for sustainable development policy are discussed

valuing environmental functions tropical wetlands recent studies have suggested that tropical wetland systems may have a crucial economic role to play in development the following paper provides an overview of these benefits using the general framework of cost benefit analysis as the methodological approach to assessing wetland values an analysis of trade offs between conserving or converting tropical wetlands demonstrates that taking into account the opportunity cost of wetland loss leads to a lower level of conversion than would otherwise be the case finally the paper discusses the extensions and limitations of the production function approach as applied to valuing nonmarketed wetland benefits

the political economy of state level welfare benefits several new relationships ware indicated by this study first the percentage of adults with a college degree seems to increase welfare spending as noted above this does not necessarily imply that this group is particularly altruistic overall higher afdc levels could be encouraged by a politically productive minority in this group second the percentage black in the population is a better predictor of afdc levels than is the percentage of black afdc recipients that is discrimination against blacks via lower afdc levels is more closely related to the relative size of the black community than the relative size of the black welfare population the results suggest similar discrimination against hispanics in regard to afdc levels the percentage catholic increases afdc levels this does not necessarily imply that catholics have a higher preference for welfare spending than non catholics although this may be the case it may reflect the effect of pressure from catholic interest groups since catholics are the largest religious group in most states they may be better able to support political pressure groups that demand more generous welfare programs union pressures may contribute to higher levels of welfare benefits this is more likely to be the case when unemployment levels are particularly high the relative size of the poverty population is not significantly related to benefit levels the greater cost to taxpayers of increasing benefit levels when the poverty group is large seems to offset the rent seeking efforts of a larger recipient group finally jurisdiction size play a significant role in determining benefit levels with larger states providing more generous benefits in general the results suggest that the influence of rent seeking recipients is not a dominant factor in explaining afdc benefit levels this result is not surprising given the lack of political influence of this particular recipient group it is likely that rent seeking behavior is more important among more politically active groups such as social security recipients and public employees the influence of altruistic motives in affecting aid levels is more subtle than has been suggested in many past studies income was not found to be an important direct determinant of afdc levels the presence of altruistic motives coupled with the ability to effectuate these desires politically seems to be the key to explaining this type of transfer

optimal diversity increasing returns versus recombinant innovation abstract choices regarding diversity play an important role in economics and innovation management but often remain implicit once made explicit the objectives of efficiency and diversity are usually posed as in conflict as efficiency relates positively and diversity negatively to various increasing returns to scale in markets such a perspective however neglects the benefits of diversity in terms of realizing system improvements through recombinant innovation or spillovers the latter implies a contribution of diversity to long term efficiency dominant economic approaches that address diversity such as option value and real options theories regard benefits of diversity as exogenous this paper proposes a simple model of variable endogenous diversity to analyse the optimal balance between increasing returns to scale and recombinant innovation it is discussed under which conditions one of four solutions is optimal complete specialization regardless of which option complete specialization in one specific option symmetric diversity perfect balance and asymmetric diversity the results give rise to a number of policy insights

ecological economics and sustainable governance of the oceans abstract this paper is an introduction and synthesis of the papers that appear in this special issue devoted to the sustainable governance of the oceans the special issue contains papers on various aspects of the problem including the ecological and economic importance of the oceans the problems facing the oceans from an ecological economics perspective the links between science and policy the rationale for sustainable ocean governance and examples of sustainable institutions and governance structures we developed the lisbon principles of sustainable governance responsibility scale matching precaution adaptive management full cost allocation and participation as a core set of guidelines for sustainable ocean governance we then describe the major problems facing the oceans in terms of how the principles are violated and evaluate some suggested institutions in terms of how the principles are incorporated

does urbanization lead to less energy use and lower co2 emissions a cross country analysis despite the relationship between urbanization energy use and co2 emissions has been extensively studied in recent years little attention has been paid to differences in development stages or income levels most previous studies have implicitly assumed that the impact of urbanization is homogenous for all countries this assumption can be questionable as there are many characteristic differences among countries of different levels of affluence this paper investigates empirically the effects of urbanization on energy use and co2 emissions with consideration of the different development stages using the stochastic impacts by regression on population affluence and technology stirpat model and a balanced panel dataset of 99 countries over the period 1975 2005 the findings suggest that the impact of urbanization on energy use and emissions varies across the stages of development surprisingly urbanization decreases energy use in the low income group while it increases energy use in the middle and high income groups the impact of urbanization on emissions is positive for all the income groups but it is more pronounced in the middle income group than in the other income groups these novel findings not only help advance the existing literature but also can be of special interest to policy makers and urban planners

a flexible assurance bonding system for improved environmental management abstract current methods of regulating activities that are known or suspected to be environmentally danaging are not working well they induce legal confrontation obfuscation and government intrusion into the inner workings of firms they tend to suppress technical and social innovation aimed at long term solutions they do not mesh well with the market signals that firms use to make decisions this paper discusses some of the underlying reasons for this problem and outlines a flexible environmental assurance bonding system designed to incorporate environmental criteria and uncertainty into the market system and to induce positive environmental technological innovation in addition to direct charges for known environmental damages an assurance bond equal to the current best estimate of the largest potential future environmental damages would be levied and kept in an interest bearing escrow account the bond plus a portion of the interest would be returned if and only if the firm could prove that the suspected damages had not occured or would not occur if damages did occur the bond would be used to rehabilitate or repair the environment and to compensate injured parties by requiring the users of environmental resources to post a bond adequate to cover potential future environmental damages with the possibility for refunds the burden of proof is shifted from the public to the resource user and a strong economic incentive is provided to research the true costs of environmentally innovative activities and to develop innovative cost effective pollution control technologies

income distribution and co2 emission a comparative analysis for china and india abstract the aim of this paper is to test whether income inequality contributes to environmental degradation in china and india where both countries are giving a great concern about the implications of their unsustainable energy consumption to the environment not only to themselves but also to the global environmental sustainability by applying the bounds test approach to cointegration we found in both countries a long run but not a statistically significant relationship between income inequality and co 2 emissions both in the long run and in the short run the robustness of our cointegration results is also ascertained by using three different long run tests furthermore applying the variance decomposition analysis to examine the dynamic causal relationship between the gini coefficient of income distribution and co 2 emissions we found that income inequality was the least important factor in determining co 2 emissions and that there was no causality running in any direction between co 2 emissions and income inequality in both countries still income and energy consumption are the major determinants of co 2 emissions in both countries nevertheless even though the evidence is not statistically significant in the case of china it indicates that reducing income inequality can have a positive impact on environmental quality while in india redistributing income to improve environmental degradation may not be effective

analysis of carbon tax efficiency in energy industries of selected eu countries abstract a carbon tax is one of economic policy instruments of environmental protection supposed to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas ghg emissions a functional carbon tax aims at incorporating costs for elimination of environmental harm into the pricing decisions in terms of global climate change the carbon tax is usually imposed on the production distribution or consumption of carbon content fossil fuels the main aim of the study is to evaluate the carbon tax environmental effectiveness in the energy industries of selected eu countries namely sweden finland denmark ireland and slovenia to achieve the principal research objective the multiple panel regression method for the selected variables was used the synergy of other environmental policy tools being taken into account control variables employed were emission allowance price household final consumption expenditure corporate investments solid fuel consumption and renewable energy consumption the analysis results suggest that the carbon tax in the energy industry is environmentally efficient an increased tax rate allowing to reduce ghg production which is statistically significantly affected by the consumption of fossil fuels based on the estimated partial regression coefficient 0 01158 raising the carbon tax by one euro per tonne can cut annual per capita emissions by 11 58 kg

trust law sustainability and responsible action abstract the problem of managing for sustainability is marked by the need to make decisions on behalf of others and by the uncertainties that attend such decisions however the economic literature on sustainability has paid scant attention to how decisions on behalf of others might differ from decisions on behalf of oneself and when risk has been modeled explicitly the expected utility hypothesis has generally been used a generation acts sustainably if the expected value of the next generation s utility is not less than the present s this paper investigates how we think about responsibly acting on another s behalf by looking to the united states law of trusts because in important respects the current generation views its responsibility to the future as a trust relationship trust law illuminates responsible decision making under both risk and uncertainty even under conditions of risk more conservative action than would be suggested by the expected utility hypothesis is warranted because it emphasizes preservation of trust principal and disavows profit maximization trust doctrine indicates that special caution should be exercised in conditions of uncertainty finally resource economic concepts of strong sustainability the precautionary principle and the safe minimum standard of conservation are interpreted according to trust principles

alternative approaches to economic environmental interactions abstract the key questions raised by recent developments in resource and environmental economics have been what useful economic functions does the environment provide and how are these functions affected by the process of economic environmental interaction this paper distinguishes between two different formal approaches to answering these questions the more conventional approach which is concerned with the optimal allocation of economically valuable exhaustible resources and an alternative analysis that considers the trade off between on the one hand environmental quality and on the other resource depletion and waste generation by the economic process to illustrate and extend the latter approach a model is constructed to show how this trade off might lead to continuously declining environmental quality and a future ecological constraint society must therefore optimally allocate output between consumption and services to improve the environment and choose between increased capital accumulation and environmental degradation although strict application of such a model may be limited it has wider implications for the role of technological change and the value of the environment in any system experiencing deteriorating environmental quality

strengthening governance of ocean fishery resources abstract governance of the world s marine fisheries is ill adapted to sustainability twenty years after the expansion of exclusive economic zones over most of the continental shelves fisheries worldwide face problems of stock depletion declining yields and increasing conflict other human activities in the ocean compound the effect what is wrong this paper is about the internal workings of fishery governance and their links to fishery outcomes the theme of this paper is that there are fundamental weaknesses in the way fishery governance works that contribute to sustainability problems basic requirements for healthy ocean fishery governance are not being met because the scope and structure of governance are weak although the particular forms of weakness vary with fisheries and with geopolitical regions the substance of the weakness is common across all regions what we ask of fishery governance is that it coordinate institutional rules and individual actions by performing certain functions incorporate multiple objectives representing different types of conservation and use bring the time horizons of private individuals into line with those of the public send signals of resource scarcity and enable effective adaptive responses promote legitimacy by reflecting accepted norms of equity and by controlling harmful opportunism contain both the level and distribution of transactions costs fishery governance is failing to adequately perform these functions as a result of the attributes of management scope and management structure at both national and international levels improvement of governance will rest on the adoption of a stable long term management scope and the construction of flexible management structures

population and lifestyle trend changes in china implications for environmental quality abstractdemographic changes have considerable impacts on a country s long term growth trajectory through the savings consumption and labour market channels population changes including ageing migration and urbanization as well as lifestyle shifts may affect growth for fast growing countries like china rural population migrating to cities consumes more energy services and produces larger emissions since urban lifestyles are generally more energy and carbon intensive household structures also keep changing across the majority of chinese cities migration and urbanization together drive china s energy consumption co2 emissions upwards and environmental quality downwards if the current trend continues over time it is thus necessary for china to draw useful lessons from experiences in other countries by reconciling population development and environmental changes this study provides insights into the challenge of environmental sustainability resulting jointly from population and lifestyle changes

historical roots for ecological economics biophysical versus allocative approaches abstract a number of economists today are aware that the results of their science are more or less at variance with concrete fact and are alive to the necessity of perfecting it they go wrong rather in their choice of means to that end they try obstinately to get from their science alone the materials they know are needed for a closer approximation to fact whereas they should resort to other sciences and go into them thoroughly not just incidentally for their bearing on the given economic problem until economic science is much farther advanced economic principles are less important to the economists than the reciprocal bearings of the results of economics and the results of the other social sciences many economists are paying no attention to such interrelations for mastery of them is a long and fatiguing task requiring an extensive knowledge of facts whereas anyone with a little imagination a pen and a few reams of paper can relieve himself of a chat on principles pareto 1935 para 2022

resilience weather and dynamic adjustments in agroecosystems the case of wheat yield in england the paper presents an investigation of agroecosystem dynamics with an application to wheat yield data in england over the period 1885 2012 the analysis relies on a threshold quantile autoregressive model the model allows for lag effects to vary across quantiles of the distribution as well as with the values taken by the lagged variables the analysis documents the dynamics and persistence of yield adjustments to shocks the estimates indicate the presence of dynamic instability in the lower quantile of the distribution the analysis shows that after controlling for the role of technological trend wheat yield exhibits resilience to adverse weather shocks

sustainability constraints versus optimality versus intertemporal concern and axioms versus data sustainable sustained or survivable development are defined here as distinct sustainability constraints on intertemporal distribution in a context which ignores uncertainty environmental and intratemporal concerns such constraints are neither self contradictory nor redundant for they can conflict with maximizing the present value of utility optimality nor inferior since the axioms underlying optimality are ethically arbitrary and refuted by empirical psychological data axiomatic arguments may clarify but cannot resolve debates about intertemporal concerns data suggest that sustainability constraints are not respected and that intertemporal welfare functions containing a preference for sustained improvement may better reflect what bodies politic mean by sustainability

the conditions for achieving environmentally sustainable development this paper is interested in the narrower interpretation the relationship between environmental quality and sustainable economic activity the latter is interpreted as that level of economic activity which leaves the environmental quality level intact with the policy objective corresponding to this notion being the maximization of net benefits of economic development subject to maintaining the services and quality of natural resources over time 3