Economic growth, carrying capacity, and the environment
- Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Stockholm (Sweden)
- Univ. of Maryland, Solomons, MD (United States)
- Cambridge Univ. (United Kingdom)
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm (Sweden)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
- Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
- Univ. of York (United Kingdom)
National and international economic policy has usually ignored the environment. In areas where the environment is beginning to impinge on policy, as in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), it remains a tangential concern, and the presumption is often made that economic growth and economic liberalization (including the liberalization of international trade) are, in some sense, good for the environment. This notion has meant that economy-wide policy reforms designed to promote growth and liberalization have been encouraged with little regard to their environmental consequences, presumably on the assumption that these consequences would either take care of themselves or could be dealt with separately. In this article, we discuss the relation between economic growth and environmental quality, and the link between economic activity and the carrying capacity and resilience of the environment.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 70286
- Journal Information:
- Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 5210 Vol. 268; ISSN SCIEAS; ISSN 0036-8075
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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