Quantifying Sustainable Development: The Future of Tropical Economies - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0123188601 ISBN 13: 9780123188601

Publisher: Academic Press, 2000

Synopsis

Until recently, the phenomenal economic development of the Asian tigers, Chile, and Malaysia, as well as the sustained economic growth of the United States, painted a very desirable and optimistic picture of free markets, fiscal responsibility, and, more generally, the entire dogma of neoclassical economics. As of the fall of 1998, however, the economies of many tropical countries have contracted severely, and the enthusiasm of the developing tropics for the free market and all of its ancillary policies is decidedly cooler. Have our traditional approaches to economics been failing the developing world?
This interdisciplinary book covers the conditions of the developing tropics, the resistance of some of their problems to earlier attempts at solutions, and the use of new tools to develop a much more comprehensive and empirical framework for analysis and decision making. It also presents the development of cutting edge technology that links GIS and modeling approaches with extensive databases on meteorology, soils, agricultural production, and land use. The book discusses whether development is sustainable through a synthesis of demographic, economic, and resource-specific considerations. Costa Rica is uniquely suited to this study because of its size, stage of development, democratic institutions, and national databases.
A CD-ROM containing all data and programs, color images, animated models, large data tables, and references accompanies the book.

Key Features
* Links economic and biophysical analyses of sustainability
* Presents new tools and approaches for analysis and decision-making
* Includes a CD-ROM containing data and programs, color images, animated models, and references

About this title

About the Author

Charles A. S. Hall is affiliated with the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse.

Carlos Leon Perez is affiliated with the Ministero de Agricultura, San Jose, Costa Rica.
Gregoire Leclerc is affiliated with the Laboratorio de Analisis Geografico, Turrialba, Costa Rica.

From the Back Cover

Until recently, the phenomenal economic development of the Asian tigers, Chile, and Malaysia, as well as the sustained economic growth of the United States, painted a very desirable and optimistic picture of free markets, fiscal responsibility, and, more generally, the entire dogma of neoclassical economics. As of the Fall of 1998, however, the economies of many tropical countries had contracted severely, and the enthusiasm of the developing tropics for the free market and all of its ancillary policies was decidedly cooler. Have our traditional approaches to economics been failing the developing world?

In this exciting, interdisciplinary book, the "holy grail" of neoclassical economics, growth as "sustainable development," is examined in an explicitly empirical framework using extensive databases on meteorology, demography, soils, agricultural production, and land use in Costa Rica. The contributors apply modern geographical and computational tools to age-old resource issues while asking whether the conventional approaches that we have used for economic analysis are adequate to the task.

Quantifying Sustainable Development: The Future of Tropical Economies includes six major sections beginning with an overview of the changing tropics and how these changes are affecting Costa Rica. Subsequent sections explore the theories and myths that have guided development and the application of new spatial tools for linking economic analysis with the biophysical characteristics of a region. The book concludes with an integrated analysis of energy, economics, and resource quality for each of the major sectors of the Costa Rican economy, including coffee, bananas, industry, and foreign trade.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

CD-ROM Enclosed!

Edition details

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0123188601
• ISBN 13: 9780123188601
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 761
• Editor: Hall Charles A.S., Van Laake Patrick, Perez Carlos Leon, Leclerc Gregoire