REM 321 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Toxic Waste, Pest Control, Sustainable Agriculture
13 Sep 2019
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Environmental and natural resource economics (4 th ed) Human population and economic activity remained fairly stable (almost non-existent) prior to the industrial revolution (18th and 19th century) Advent of market economy & rapid technology progress altered the pattern drastically. Thomas malthus (british economist) hypothesized: populations would outgrow available food supplies, majority of people would live at a minimal level (subsistence, hypothesis wrong, population grew but economic activity grew more = increased capacity of resource availability. However, human and economic growth will reach biophysical capacity eventually: environmental stresses associated will force major changes in economic systems. Example: (+) agricultural productivity = (-) farmers = (+) industrial development workers = (+) industrial productivity = (+) living standards = growth in real gdp per capita. Living standards = growth in real gdp per capita. Standard economic theory claims 2 sources of ^ productivity: 1) accumulation of capital, capital, land, labor = 3 factors of production.
