Environment and Development Trajectory: A Fresh Look on Theory and Empirics

Description

This book explores some issues of environmental economics arising from development activities. A concept crystallising in the development and environmental economics literature is the notion that socioeconomic and environmental measures follow predictable paths associated with growing per capita income. In this context, the nature of the relationship between economic development and environmental quality has become the focus of increasing attention. The issue of whether environmental degradation increases monotonically, decreases monotonically or, at first, increases and then declines along a country's developmental path, has critical implications for policy.Whilst development through industrialisation brings higher incomes and well-being, this seems to act as a magnifier of environmental degradation. On the other hand, growing environmentalism is perceived to act as an impediment to economic development. Economic developments through rapid industrialisation and growing environmental consciousness together have generated a heated debate on how economic development may be linked with the environment.