Economic Growth and the Environment On the Measurement of Income and Welfare

This book considers the possibility of adjusting traditional economic measures of income and welfare to account for natural resource extraction and environmental degradation.

It presents and reviews the limitations of an operational method for measuring income from resource extraction in both open and closed economies. In addressing closed economies, the discussion centres on the relationship between income and global sustainability. The book also considers the measurement of social welfare in relation to environmental issues and resource extraction, especially changes over time and comparison between countries. Theoretical material is complemented by case studies on petroleum extraction in Norway and soil degradation in Tanzania, to which the pragmatic methods are applied. The author challenges the view that environmental degradation is best included in welfare measurement and argues that many of the proposals for adjusted welfare measurements are better interpreted as adjustments of national income.

Economic Growth and the Environment will be indispensable to environmental accountants, environmental organizations interested in green accounting and students studying sustainability issues.

Kjell Arne Brekke, Department of Economics, University of Oslo, Norway