Welfare, Inequality, and Resource Depletion

Mariano Torras

• Contents: Sustainable development: an introduction; The political economy of growth and deforestation in Brazil; Measuring sustainable development: definitional issues and competing perspectives; Green income accounting: the commodity value of natural resources; Green income accounting: the conservation value of natural resources; Sustainable development reassessment: application of the distribution weights framework; Conclusion: requiem for GDP?; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

'At last we have a solid empirical analysis that intertwines several strands of ecological economic theory. Long run resource availability is being exploited for short run economic gains, the poor are pawns in the process rather than beneficiaries, and our economic indicators are hiding the truth.' Richard B. Norgaard, Past President, International Society for Ecological Economics, University of California at Berkeley, USA '...Torras demonstrates that it is both possible and desirable to construct alternative measures of economic performance that are sensitive to natural-resource depletion and income distribution. This book should be required reading for economists and others concerned with sustainable human development.' James K. Boyce, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA 'This book serves a double purpose. It is an excellent textbook on the methods for "greening" National Income Accounting. At the same time, it contributes powerfully to the debate on the environmental unsustainability of economic growth in Brazil. It also takes into account social distribution issues so topical after the recent change in government.' Professor Joan Martinez-Alier, Universitat Autonoma, Spain