ABSTRACT

The book is a concise introduction to an emerging field within economics. Drawing on numerous disciplines, including environmental science, environmental and ecological economics and optimal growth theory, sustainability remains a hazy and complex subject.

The author set out with two objectives: one, to bring some order into the proliferating measures, models and management of sustainability; and two, to facilitate access to a complex inter-disciplinary subject area. The book points to practical ways of assessing and enhancing the long-term environmental and economic sustainability of our economies.

The result is a fully international study that should bridge the gap between disciplines and prove to be an essential guide to anyone interested in one of the most important concepts in the social sciences.

chapter 1|9 pages

Introduction

What's economics got to do with it?

part 1|35 pages

Ecological sustainability

chapter 2|10 pages

How much nature do we have?

chapter 3|14 pages

How much nature do we need?

Can we sustain its use?

chapter 4|9 pages

What should we do about it?

part 2|48 pages

Economic sustainability

chapter 5|12 pages

What is the value of nature?

chapter 6|12 pages

Accounting for economic sustainability

chapter 7|13 pages

What should we do about it?

chapter 8|9 pages

Bridging the gap

Ecological and environmental economics

part 3|30 pages

Sustainable development

chapter 9|11 pages

A cure-all paradigm?

chapter 10|11 pages

What should we do about it?

chapter 11|6 pages

Some conclusions

What is countable? What counts? What should we do about it?