Hidden linkages between resources and economy: A “Beyond-GDP” approach using alternative welfare indicators

Kalimeris, Panos; Bithas, Kostas; Richardson, Clive; Nijkamp, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106508

Cited by 58 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Our findings thus reinforce the repeatedly expressed view of UNEP experts and other researchers (Fischer-Kowalski et al, 2011;Weizsäcker et al, 2014;Oberle et al, 2019;Parrique et al, 2019) that relative decoupling is quite common, whereas it is very difficult to achieve absolute decoupling. The findings on the still positive and close relationship between income and environmental pressures are also consistent with this view (Vintar Mally, 2009;Aşici, 2013;Szigeti, Toth and Szabo, 2017;Kalimeris et al, 2020), and with the conclusion that decoupling will not occur on its own but only through deliberate and planned policy measures (Oberle et al, 2019;Parrique et al, 2019) as well as awareness raising and education (Arrebola and Martínez-Medina, 2018;Brkić-Vejmelka, Pejdo and Segarić, 2018). In interpreting our results, certain limitations should be noted: two particular years were selected for a cross-section, and that selection could be more or less favourable for a particular country, hence influencing the result.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 72%

The environmental price of socio-economic development: worldwide trends from 1990 to 2016

Mally¹

2020

EJG

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Plans for achieving sustainable development around the world are based on the assumption that socio-economic progress can be ensured only by staying within the carrying capacity of the environment, which has already been exceeded in a number of areas. In this paper the concepts of human development and ecological footprint have been combined in order to shed light on the current state and trends over time. Using available data for the human development index and the ecological footprint, 175 countries were included in the analysis of the current state (based on data from 2016), while 121 countries were analysed in the study of trends from 1990 to 2016. Based on their degree of success or failure in approaching decoupling targets, the countries were further classified into three types. All countries have shown progress in human development, which has been accompanied on a global scale by a large increase in environmental pressures, and this is still reflected in the high correlation of the human development index and the ecological footprint per capita. However, for only 38% of countries could it be concluded that socio-economic progress in the period 1990-2016 was achieved while reducing the per capita consumption of natural resources and ecosystem services.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 72%

The environmental price of socio-economic development: worldwide trends from 1990 to 2016

Mally¹

2020

EJG

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“…The best known alternatives to GDP are the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) (Daly, Cobb, and Cobb 1994) and the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) (Cobb, Halstead, and Rowe 1995). These alternative measures of welfare are gaining popularity and are used in studies in many countries at a national as well as a regional level (for example, (Menegaki, Marques, and Fuinhas 2017;Bleys and Whitby 2015;Kalimeris et al 2020). However, ISEW and GPI are not free of problems.…”

Section: Literature Review: Measuring Economic Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Adjusting GDP for ecological deficit: the Index of Debt to the Future (IDF)

Lianos

Pseiridis

2021

SN Bus Econ

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Many criticisms have been raised against the use of GDP as a measure of economic welfare. Although these criticisms may be justified, GDP arguably seems to remain the best measure of economic activity and could not be easily abandoned. It could, however, be adjusted for the ecological deficit that the production of goods and services creates. The Index of Debt to the Future (IDF) proposed in this paper adjusts the measured GDP by subtracting the part of GDP that creates the ecological deficit as estimated by the difference between biocapacity and ecological footprint. That part of GDP is a measure of the debt of the present generation to the future generations. The adjusted GDP, defined as the difference between GDP and the implied debt, is the net economic magnitude which the present generation should consider as its own. In addition to its simplicity, the proposed Index of Debt to the Future has the advantage of being easy to calculate with minimal marginal cost and easy to communicate to a wider audience.

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“…One is income (INC): it measures gross national income (GNI) per capita, in US dollars, converted from local currency using the World Bank Atlas method. The other, proposed by [45], is the human development index (HDI): it measures average achievements in key dimensions of human development, i.e., a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living. The data come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (WDI) database [46] and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) database [47], respectively.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoupling Economic Growth from Fossil Fuel Use—Evidence from 141 Countries in the 25-Year Perspective

2020

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This study offers an in-depth analysis of the decoupling of economic growth from fossil fuel use in 141 countries over the last 25 years. The study is based on the Tapio decoupling approach, and two methods of measuring fossil fuel use, i.e., domestic material consumption (DMC) and material footprint (MF), are applied. Groups of countries with similar decoupling patterns are identified through the k-medoids method. Next, the relationship between these patterns and the level of countries’ development is examined. The results reveal that using different measures of fossil fuel use yields different processes of decoupling economic growth from fossil fuel use. In particular, when the DMC indicator is considered, relative decoupling is observed in most analysed cases. When the MF indicator is applied, the decoupling states of individual countries change more frequently. Finally, in highly developed countries, absolute decoupling is frequently observed, although only when the DMC indicator is used.

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Hidden linkages between resources and economy: A “Beyond-GDP” approach using alternative welfare indicators

Cited by 58 publications

References 70 publications

The environmental price of socio-economic development: worldwide trends from 1990 to 2016

The environmental price of socio-economic development: worldwide trends from 1990 to 2016

Adjusting GDP for ecological deficit: the Index of Debt to the Future (IDF)

Decoupling Economic Growth from Fossil Fuel Use—Evidence from 141 Countries in the 25-Year Perspective

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