Environment, Technology and Economic Growth : The Challenge to Sustainable Development

At the end of the 20th century economists and policymakers face an unprecedented dual challenge: to avert ecological disaster and to end mass unemployment by accelerating and redirecting world economic growth.

This major volume brings together contributions from environmental and technological economists. The first part discusses the ecological challenge to economists and policymakers and shows that both need a radical change in their approach. The second part discusses the institutional and legal changes which are necessary to address this challenge. The final part deals with the technological revolution, focusing on microelectronics and biotechnology, which is now transforming the world economy, and sets it in the context of long term fluctuations in economic growth and the relative stagnation since 1973.

The protection of the environment, and economic growth with full employment are not necessarily opposed. On the contrary, as this volume demonstrates, what is required to return to full employment and more rapid growth is vigorous and concerted government action to give an 'eco-friendly' direction to technological and economic change.

Edited by Andrew Tylecote, Professor of the Economics and Management of Technological Change, Sheffield University Management School, UK and Jan van der Straaten, Senior Researcher in Environmental and Ecological Economics, European Centre for Nature Conservation, the Netherlands and Retired Senior Lecturer, Department of Leisure Studies, Tilburg University, the Netherlands