Growth and sustainability

Robin Hahnel

Chapter 14 in Handbook on the Economics of Climate Change, 2020, pp 296-309 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability has been the subject of much controversy. Unfortunately, lack of precision in defining terms and failure to develop a suitable model for studying the issue have clouded understanding. This chapter (1) explains the crucial difference between growth of production of goods and growth of environmental throughput, (2) presents a model suitable for rigorously measuring changes in labour productivity and throughput efficiency, (3) formulates sufficient conditions for environmental sustainability, and thereby (4) clarifies how continued growth of production can be consistent with environmental sustainability. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of what our conclusions imply about “steady-state†and “de-growth†economics, suggestions about how our conclusions can be extended to a real world where nature is heterogeneous and parts are non-renewable, and a few observations about climate change policy.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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