| Contents Notes |
Whence comes wealth? : three fallacies about economics versus the environment -- Richland for dirt cheap : two views of the value of soil -- The price is wrong : advantages and dangers of cost-benefit analysis -- Future shock discounted : another devil in the details of cost-benefit analysis -- Internalizing the externalities : buying a bunch of blue sky to limit global warming -- Global garbage : Malthus revisited -- In search of sustainability : from small landholders to macroeconomists -- Fill the earth and conquer it, but keep two of each species : can both imperatives be achieved? -- May we live in interesting times : some modest proposals for profound changes. Most estimates of wealth today are based upon gross domestic product, and many economists even see future wealth being created free of the constraints set by natural resources. Eric Davidson, scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, calls such thinking "Marie Antoinette economics" and reveals its grave underlying fallacies. In valuing land or forests, for instance, we tend to discount their future value for our own children; in analyzing costs and benefits, the price of these natural resources upon which we ultimately depend is usually wrong; and damages to these resources are seen as "externalities." Davidson exposes these fallacies and offers a blueprint for a truly sustainable economy. |
