Sustainable Resource Use and Economic Dynamics [Paperback]

The chapters in the book cover a broad range of aspects regarding the relationship between natural resource use and long-term economic development. The book surveys existing literature as well as adds to frontier research. In particular, the following topics are studied: incentives for adoption and diffusion of clean technology, resource scarcity and limits to growth, international convergence of energy intensity, and the social norms shaping resource depletion.

This volume includes a selection of papers presented at the conference Susta- able Resource Use and Economic Dynamics (SURED), held on Monte Verita ` in Ascona, Switzerland, in June 2004. Thirty years after the publication of the famous symposium issue of the Review of Economic Studies in 1974, which started the neoclassical literature on growth theory and resource economics. The conference sought to reinforce research efforts in order to provide adequate solutions for todays challenges in the ?eld of sustainable development. The c- ference compiled innovative research from resource, energy and environmental economics, and dynamic economic theory. By bringing together leading experts, junior and senior scholars in these ?elds, it covered a broad range of aspects regarding the relationship between natural resource use and long-term economic development. The SURED conference made use of the wonderful surroundings on the mountain of truth and the remarkable history of the conference centre, which was shaped by the desire to return to a natural way of life. In this tradition, the conference aimed at ?nding ways of living in an economically developed world and at the same time taking into account the natural environment with its restr- tions and requirements. We take the opportunity to thank the staff of the Monte Verita ` centre for the hospitality and the excellent service.Preface. List of contributors. 1. Introduction; Lucas Bretschger and Sjak Smulders, 2. A Dynamic Model of the EnvironlӞ