Sustainable Development

This is an overview chapter from IPD’s Environmental Economics Task Force volume Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability: New Policy Options. Over the last few decades, economic growth in developing countries has been, with some exceptions, slow; social equity has either not improved or worsened; and environment degradation in many places has been significant. In numerous countries, economic development has not been environmentally sustainable. The central message of this volume is that the failure to achieve environmental sustainability has been the result of a systematic underinvestment in public goods by governments. The consistent failure of governments to impose environmental regulation and to effectively prevent encroachment and wasteful illegal exploitation of ecosystems may mean that such failures are not simply the lack of means and information, but rather that powerful political economy motivations must also be at work. This book begins with a review of recent developments in economic growth and the environment, and then explores, through a series of essays, issues such as resource dependency and poverty, international trade, governance and political economy, and water and energy policies and instruments.