Read more
Can sustainable economic development be achieved without strong environmental protections? Bringing together theoretical issues in development economics and a wide range of empirical evidence, this book examines this question and explores ways that environmental sustainability has been-and might be-incorporated into existing theories of economic development. Protection of the environment is an essential part of development, and the best chance for achieving long-term sustainable development is to systematically incorporate environmental issues into key aspects of economic development paradigms. To show this, Desta makes use of theoretical approaches, draws policy implications, and illustrates each point with in-depth case studies from developing countries.
Although economists have attempted to discern the factors that contribute to sustainable economic growth since the 18th-century, development economics did not emerge as a legitimate discipline until after World War II. By the 1980s, the view that environmental concerns pose economic constraints had given way to the belief that environmental and development issues are interwoven. This book integrates existing economic development theories and environmental issues in a comprehensive, user-friendly way. It pulls together and makes understandable a wide range of current thinking and historical development, concluding each chapter with a case study that shows the workings of these ideas in practice.
List of contents
Foreword by Francoise O. Lepage
Preface
The Stages of Economic Development Paradigms
An Environmentally Adjusted System of National Accounts
The Environmental Impact of Capital Formation
The Market-Oriented Approach to Development and the Environment
Poverty and Environmental Degradation
Population and the Environment
Women and the Environment
Rural Development and the Environment
Education and the Environment
Health Services and the Environment
Multinational Enterprises and the Environment
Technology and the Environment
International Trade and the Environment
External Debt and the Environment
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
ASAYEHGN DESTA is Professor of Business Economics at Dominican College of San Rafael. He also serves on the faculty of San Francisco State University. He is the author of several articles and the book International Political Risk Assessment for Foreign Direct Investment and International Lending Decisions (1993).
