Globální problémy z pohledu environmentální ekonomie

Global Problems as Seen by Environmental Economics

Marek Loužek

Politická ekonomie, 2013, vol. 2013, issue 3, 393-410

Abstract: The conventional view of the sustainability of social development is based on the works of the Roman Club, particularly the book "The Limits to Growth" by Donella Meadows and her colleagues (1972). In their opinion, the human population and economy are depleting the wealth of the Earth and pollutants and wastes are burdening the environment. However, the concern that mineral resources will be depleted is unsubstantiated. Environmental economics argues that a higher number of people and a higher income make resources scarcer on a short-term basis. For investors and entrepreneurs, higher prices represent an opportunity and an incentive to search for solutions. Many of them will not succeed in this search and they will bear the costs on their own. However, in a free society, the solutions are eventually found. And in the long run, we are better off thanks to the new discoveries than if the original problems had never occurred.

Keywords: population growth; environmental economics; limits of growth; exhaustible resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F64 K32 N50 O13 Q20 Q32 Q50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.904

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