Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T16:41:47.460Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inclusive wealth: a tool for the United Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2012

Anantha Kumar Duraiappah  and
Pablo Muñoz
Anantha Kumar Duraiappah
Affiliation:
International Human Dimensions Programme, United Nations University, UN Campus, Hermann-Ehlers Str. 10, 53113 Bonn, Germany. Tel: + 49(0)2288150601. Email: [email protected]
Pablo Muñoz
Affiliation:
International Human Dimensions Programme, United Nations University, Germany. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The world's leaders, business leaders and the public at large are beginning to question, amidst the multiple social, environmental and economic crises, whether our present trajectory of economic growth is sustainable. We seem to force ourselves to believe that we can grow ourselves out of the multiple crises we face today. The notion of sustainable development and the call for going beyond just material wealth to gauge our wellbeing has long featured in much of the sustainable development, environmental and ecological economics literature. We are afraid the present preoccupation with the green economy will not provide the change we are looking for if we don't address the fundamental problem of what we are aiming to achieve and how we measure our progress towards achieving those goals. We fall into the trap many international agencies have made over the past six decades, where the means become the ends and the ends become an academic exercise (Chang, 2001).

Type
Commentary
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , June 2012 , pp. 362 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Chang, H.-J. (ed.) (2001), Joseph Stiglitz and the World Bank: The Rebel Within, London: Anthem Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. (2009), ‘The welfare economics of green national accounts‘, Environmental and Resource Economics 42(1): 3–38.Google Scholar
Dietz, S. and Neumayer, E. (2007), ‘Weak and strong sustainability in the SEEA: concepts and measurement’, Ecological Economics 61(4): 617–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duraiappah, A.K. (2003), Computational Models in the Economics of Environment and Development, Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duraiappah, A.K., Nakamura, K., Takeuchi, K., Watanabe, M., and Nishi, M. (2012), Satoyama-Satoumi Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Socio-ecological Production Landscapes of Japan, Tokyo: United Nations University Press.Google Scholar
Easterlin, R.A. (1995), ‘Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 27: 35–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) (2005), Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends: Findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group, Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), Our Common Future, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar