Economic Growth, Sustainability, and Environmental Quality

Abstract

Ecologists believe that one of the important reasons for the existence of the environmental problem stems from the emphasis on growth by the industrialized states as well as the developing countries. They point out that growth has been possible only at the expense of the environment. They postulate that growth rates were so high because the waste and pollutants from production and increased consumpution had been unscrupulously released into the environment without consideration of their effects. The destruction of the environment, the impairment in the quality of elemental environmental services, the deterioration of air quality, and the contamination of seas, rivers, and lakes were not taken into account in economic calculations. In sum, the social costs of growth were not included in economic analyses. We have, so to speak, grown to the detriment of the environment. These arguments lead to the following questions: By which indicators should growth be measured? Does a halt in growth present a convenient measure for the improvement of environmental quality? What are the effects of economic growth on environmental quality? To what extent is economic growth restricted by a limited supply of natural resources? Is economic growth sustainable? What are the economic policy implications of sustainability?