“John Kenneth
Galbraith and the Theory of Social Balance,” Chapter 6 in Sackrey
and Schneider, Introduction
to Political Economy, 3rd edition, Dollars and Sense,
2002.
Hertsgaard, Mark, “The Truth
on Warming,” The Nation,
July 8, 2002 v275
i2 p6.
Tutor2U
lays out some of the key issues and explains the Kuznets Curve in
very accessible fashion from an orthodox perspective.
Theodore Panayotou, "Economic
Growth and the Environment." Attempts to to critically review,
synthesize and interpret the literature on the relationship between
economic growth and environment. Argues that the Environmental Kuznets
Curve (where growth initially causes the environment to deteriorate,
but later generates enough income to allow more resources to be devoted
to conservation efforts) is accurate. Level: intermediate. Perspective:
orthodox.
(3)
Films (see Film Reviews for more details on
these films):
Who’s Counting (Marilyn Waring’s
feminist critique of GDP as “progress.”)
Economics (Redefining Progress) (Contains an ecological and pro-worker critique
of standard economics and standard measures of “progress.”)
Affluenza; Escape From Affluenza (Consumerism as a disease, not an economic benefit.)
Advertising and the End of the World (Ecological and societal impact of ads.)
Greening Business (Things businesses can do to become more ecologically
friendly.)
U.S. National Income and Product Accounts from the Bureau of Economic Analysis: (BEA) www.bea.doc.gov (GDP etc.).Of special interest
is the BEA's project to modify the national income accounts
in ways that respond to many (though by no means all) heterodox and
environmentalist concerns: See discussion of: Integrated Economic
and Environmental Satellite Accounts, (and the annual report known
as the Green G.D.P. accounts) (IEESA).
For
some environmentalist critiques of the national accounts see: Herman Daly interview on environmental accounting
and World Bank http://www.igc.apc.org/envreview/daly.html
Precautionary
Principle (PP) Web
site materials.(The Precautionary
Principle is a policy principle that states "When an activity
raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary
measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships
are not fully established scientifically.") http://www.ecoglobe.org.nz/precprin/precprin.htm
Exercise 1: Institutionalist vs. Neoclassical views
of economic growth.Synopsis:
Read the AFEEMAIL discussion on economic growth and a sustainable
ecology and economy.Contrast
these ideas with the mainstream views towards economic growth and
GDP.Respond to the discussion questions at
the beginning of the AFEEMAIL discussion document.
Exercise
2: Consumption and happiness.Synopsis:
In his book Luxury Fever,
Economist Robert Frank argues that "across-the-board increases
in our stocks of material goods produce no
measurable gain in our psychological or physical well-being"
and that we could lower our consumption expenditures significantly
(by 25%) without any loss in happiness or well-being.Make a list of all of the possessions that you could do without
and not be measurably worse off.Example:
Would having a smaller car significantly decrease your happiness?Do you agree with Frank?What
are the implications of this analysis for our traditional goal of
maximum economic growth?
(6)
Key tables and charts:
Click
here to view a short PowerPoint presentation that outlines the
problems with GDP and how the Genuine Progress Indicator tries to
correct these problems. The presentation includes the following
charts: (1) Genuine Progress Indicator vs. GDP, 1950-1998,
and (2)Genuine Progress Indicator Adjustments to GDP
