This fourth edition of an enduring and popular book has been fully updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. Eric Neumayer contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable.The author examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and the environmental consequences of economic growth. He identifies the critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future and opportunity costs of preservation. He goes on to provide a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. Indicators of weak sustainability such as Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare - also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator - are analysed, as are indicators of strong sustainability, including ecological footprints, material flows and sustainability gaps. This book will prove essential reading for students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in ecological and environmental economics and sustainable development. Contents: Preface to the Fourth Edition 1. Introduction and Overview 2. Sustainable Development: Conceptual, Ethical and Paradigmatic Issues 3. Resources, the Environment and Economic Growth: Is Natural Capital Substitutable? 4. Preserving Natural Capital in a World of Risk, Uncertainty and Ignorance 5. Measuring Weak Sustainability 6. Measuring Strong Sustainability 7. Conclusions Appendix 1. How Present-value Maximisation Can Lead to Extinction Appendix 2. The Hotelling Rule and Ramsey Rule in a Simple General Equilibrium Model Appendix 3. The Hotelling Rule and the Ramsey Rule in a More Complex Model Bibliography Index

This Handbook demonstrates the well-established body of thinking on sustainable development which now exists, and its tighter focus today on limits to current economic growth patterns. But while there have been lots of big global debates on planetary boundaries, and thresholds for critical resources, there has been little progress on the ground and in getting the politics right. Contributing authors show that many of the models we use to understand and manage relations between planet, people and profit are hopelessly mis-specified. But better tools exist, such as sustainability indicators, national environmental accounts, and the ecological footprint to help bridge this gap.' - Camilla Toulmin, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK'There is now wide recognition that current patterns of economic development are already putting great strains on resources, environment and the climate and that, if continued, the consequences could undermine or reverse past development gains and, possibly, lead to catastrophe. In other words our current paths are unsustainable. This Handbook provides a very thorough, thoughtful and valuable contribution to our understanding of the possible meanings of sustainable development, how it can be understood and calibrated, and characteristics of and choices around alternative paths. This is a subject that should be at the centre of the study of development and encompasses many disciplines. And it should be a subject that commands the attention of all those who think carefully about our future well-being; they will find this Handbook fascinating and essential reading.' - Lord Nicholas Stern, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK This timely and important Handbook takes stock of progress made in our understanding of what sustainable development actually is and how it can be measured and achieved. This fully updated and revised second edition captures recent developments in the field, including 14 new chapters by internationally renowned authors from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. The authors explain that the gap between public commitments to sustainable development and real-world action towards achieving it is still significant, but not insurmountable, and that opportunities do exist to reduce that margin. Contributors synthesize the established knowledge and clearly present cutting-edge concepts from the frontier of sustainability research with direct relevance to theory and practice. Topics covered include: the fundamentals of sustainability; equity within and between generations; the capital approach; green growth; measurements and indicators of sustainability; climate change and wellbeing. This accessible, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to exploring the theory and practice of sustainable development will prove an invaluable reference tool for researchers, students, academics and practitioners with an interest in the field of sustainable development. Contributors: W.N. Adger, S. Afionis, J. Agyeman, M. Agarwala, J.A. Allan, G.B. Asheim, G. Atkinson, R.M. Auty, E.B. Barbier, A. Bowen, C. Carraro, M.A. Cole, G. Cranston, S. Dietz, L. Dupuy, O. Edenhofer, P. Ekins, S. Fankhauser, T.J. Foxon, A. Galli, G. Gosnell, A. Gouldson, R. Green, K. Hamilton, G. Heal, C. Hepburn, J. Hodbod, T. Jackson, S. Kadner, B. Kristr m, G.-M. Lange, P. Lawn, A. Lucchesi, G. Luderer, J.A. McGregor, G. McNicoll, J.C. Morales, Y. Mulugetta, E. Naikal, E. Neumayer, B.G. Norton, D. Pearce, A. Randall, Y. Rydin, G. Schwerhoff, R. Sullivan, A. Thompson, C.A. Tisdell, J.C.J.M. van den Bergh, J. Vogler, C. von Stechow, M. Wackernagel, A. Winkels, G. Yohe, Z. Zhang

This fourth edition of an enduring and popular book has been fully updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. Eric Neumayer contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable.The author examines the availability of natural resources for the production of consumption goods and the environmental consequences of economic growth. He identifies the critical forms of natural capital in need of preservation given risk, uncertainty and ignorance about the future and opportunity costs of preservation. He goes on to provide a critical discussion of measures of sustainability. Indicators of weak sustainability such as Genuine Savings and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare - also known as the Genuine Progress Indicator - are analysed, as are indicators of strong sustainability, including ecological footprints, material flows and sustainability gaps. This book will prove essential reading for students, scholars and policymakers with an interest in ecological and environmental economics and sustainable development. Contents: Preface to the Fourth Edition 1. Introduction and Overview 2. Sustainable Development: Conceptual, Ethical and Paradigmatic Issues 3. Resources, the Environment and Economic Growth: Is Natural Capital Substitutable? 4. Preserving Natural Capital in a World of Risk, Uncertainty and Ignorance 5. Measuring Weak Sustainability 6. Measuring Strong Sustainability 7. Conclusions Appendix 1. How Present-value Maximisation Can Lead to Extinction Appendix 2. The Hotelling Rule and Ramsey Rule in a Simple General Equilibrium Model Appendix 3. The Hotelling Rule and the Ramsey Rule in a More Complex Model Bibliography Index

This timely and important Handbook takes stock of progress made in our understanding of what sustainable development actually is and how it can be achieved. Twenty years on from the publication of the seminal Brundtland Report, it has become clear that formidable challenges confront policy makers who have publicly stated their commitment to the goal of sustainable development. The Handbook of Sustainable Development seeks to provide an account of the considerable progress made in fleshing out these issues. The Handbook brings together original and state-of-the-art contributions from internationally renowned scholars writing from a variety of perspectives and disciplines. These contributions acknowledge that there is no unified theory of sustainable development and reflect the breadth and diversity of the literature to date. Discussion encompasses the fundamentals of sustainable development and intergenerational equity, and covers issues such as: the capital approach, ecological resilience, population growth and safe minimum standards; intra-generational equity; resources, the environment and economic progress; urban and corporate sustainability; green accounting and sustainability indicators. This accessible, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to the theory and practice of sustainable development will prove an invaluable reference tool for researchers, students, academics and practitioners with an interest in the field of sustainable development.

Practically all donor countries that give aid claim to do so on the basis on the recipient's good governance, but do these claims have a real impact on the allocation of aid? Are democratic, human rights-respecting, countries with low levels of corruption and military expenditures actually likely to receive more aid than other countries?
Using econometric analysis, the author examines the factors that really determine the patterns of aid giving. The author analyses such examples as:
* aggregate aid flows
* aid from multilateral organisations such as the EU and the UN
* aid from bilateral donors such as Germany, Japan, the US as well as Arab donors.
This concise, well argued and well researched book will be a great read for students, academics and policy-makers involved in development studies, economics and international relations.

Practically all donor countries that give aid claim to do so on the basis on the recipient's good governance, but do these claims have a real impact on the allocation of aid? Are democratic, human rights-respecting, countries with low levels of corruption and military expenditures actually likely to receive more aid than other countries?
Using econometric analysis, the author examines the factors that really determine the patterns of aid giving. The author analyses such examples as:
* aggregate aid flows
* aid from multilateral organisations such as the EU and the UN
* aid from bilateral donors such as Germany, Japan, the US as well as Arab donors.
This concise, well argued and well researched book will be a great read for students, academics and policy-makers involved in development studies, economics and international relations.

A comprehensive, critical analysis of the interactions between investment, trade and the environment. It examines the consequences of existing multilateral investment and trade regimes, including the WTO and the MAI for the environment, and asks how they should be reformed to protect it. In doing so, the text shows how these regimes can be greened without erecting protectionist barriers to trade that frustrate the development aspirations of poorer countries. The solution seeks to offer a way out of one of the most difficult dilemmas in international policy: how investment and trade can protect the environment without encouraging protectionism by the industrialized world.

The uncertainty that researchers face in specifying their estimation model threatens the validity of their inferences. In regression analyses of observational data, the 'true model' remains unknown, and researchers face a choice between plausible alternative specifications. Robustness testing allows researchers to explore the stability of their main estimates to plausible variations in model specifications. This highly accessible book presents the logic of robustness testing, provides an operational definition of robustness that can be applied in all quantitative research, and introduces readers to diverse types of robustness tests. Focusing on each dimension of model uncertainty in separate chapters, the authors provide a systematic overview of existing tests and develop many new ones. Whether it be uncertainty about the population or sample, measurement, the set of explanatory variables and their functional form, causal or temporal heterogeneity, or effect dynamics or spatial dependence, this book provides guidance and offers tests that researchers from across the social sciences can employ in their own research.

The uncertainty that researchers face in specifying their estimation model threatens the validity of their inferences. In regression analyses of observational data, the 'true model' remains unknown, and researchers face a choice between plausible alternative specifications. Robustness testing allows researchers to explore the stability of their main estimates to plausible variations in model specifications. This highly accessible book presents the logic of robustness testing, provides an operational definition of robustness that can be applied in all quantitative research, and introduces readers to diverse types of robustness tests. Focusing on each dimension of model uncertainty in separate chapters, the authors provide a systematic overview of existing tests and develop many new ones. Whether it be uncertainty about the population or sample, measurement, the set of explanatory variables and their functional form, causal or temporal heterogeneity, or effect dynamics or spatial dependence, this book provides guidance and offers tests that researchers from across the social sciences can employ in their own research.