Accounting for unexpected capital gains on natural assets in Net National Product

Failure to separate unexpected capital gains and losses on natural assets from depletion breaks the link between Net National Product (NNP) and sustainability. For resource rich countries this can lead to large spurious fluctuations in NNP, making it virtually useless for policy purposes. In contrast, when depletion is measured correctly, the link between NNP and sustainability is restored and there is no reason to expect NNP to be any more volatile than GNP. Oil data for Great Britain and Indonesia are used to illustrate the very significant impact that the treatment of capital gains and depletion can have on NNP.First version received: February 2003/Final version received: September 2003The author would like to thank Jack Pezzey and two anonymous referees for helpful comments.     

Sustainability and Technical Progress

A rigorous model connects together the following three basic concepts: (1) "sustainability"— meaning the generalized future power of an economy to consume over time; (2) "Green NNP"— meaning a current measure of national income that subtracts off from GNP not just depreciation of capital but also, more generally, depletion of environmental assets evaluated at current efficiency prices; (3) "technological progress"— meaning a projection onto the future of the so-called "Solow residual". A simple general formula is derived. Some crude calculations suggest a possibly strong effect of the residual, which hints that our best present estimates of long-term sustainability may be largely driven by predictions of future technological progress.     

WELFARE ECONOMICS AND THE MEASUREMENT OF NNP*

Some relationships between NNP and economic welfare are explored in the confines of a simple, static welfare maximization model. Various assumptions concerning both the measurement of NNP and the economic system underlying this model are dropped seriatem and the implications for the correspondence between NNP and economic welfare are examined. The following conclusions emerge. There are several classes of resource reorganization in which NNP and welfare move in the same direction, so that NNP can serve as an ordinal proxy for welfare. These include changes in taxes or competitive imperfections which result in product substitution and movements along the transformation function. With a general qualification, NNP-welfare correspondence is preserved for allocative changes which affect the real costs and prices of goods included in NNP or of non-included goods in inelastic demand; changes in involuntary unemployment; and changes in technological externalities affecting producers. There are other cases where changes in NNP and welfare are not positively correlated. Included here are changes in real costs of non-included goods for which demand is elastic and changes in technological externalities imposed on consumers.     

Market dynamics, dynamic resource management and environmental policy in the context of (strong) sustainability

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between market dynamics, dynamic resource management and environmental policy. In contrast to static market entry games, this paper draws attention to the effects of market dynamics on resource dynamics et vice versa, because (1) we show that feedback processes are necessary for obtaining a better understanding of what drives the dynamics between the evolution of common-pool resources and the number of harvesters and more importantly, (2) this analysis provides an environment discussing sustainability in an appropriate inasmuch dynamic way. The paper makes the following points: based on a co-evolutionary model, which incorporates resource and market dynamics simultaneously, it is shown that an increasing number of harvesters does not necessarily imply a lower stock of the common-pool resource in the long run. Further it is shown that a tax-scheme establish an output-sharing solution for coping with the overuse of common-pool resources. This results is in contrast to the prevailing literature, which mainly discusses tax-schemes and out-sharing as substitutes rather than as complements for solving the commons-problem. This conclusion holds even if we additionally assume harvesting-cost-reducing technological progress. On the other side if policy interventions ceased, strong resource sustainability in the sense of resource conservation is not possible, given technological progress is a relevant issue.     

Government spending and growth in second-best economies

This paper extends public spending-based growth theory along three directions: we assume a logistic trajectory for the ratio of government expenditure to aggregate income, self-limiting population change, and exogenous technological progress. By focusing on the choices of a benevolent social planner we find that, if the inverse of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution in consumption is sufficiently high, the ratio of consumption to private physical capital converges towards zero when time goes to infinity. Depending on the form of the underlying aggregate production function and on whether, for given production function, technological progress equals zero or a positive constant, our model may or may not yield an asymptotically balanced growth path (ABGP) equilibrium. When there is no exogenous technological progress, an equilibrium where population size, the ratio of government spending to aggregate income and the ratio of consumption to private physical capital are all constant does exist and the equilibrium is a saddle point. In case of positive technological progress numerical simulations show that the model still exhibits an ABGP equilibrium.     

Energy price-induced and exogenous technological change: Assessing the economic and environmental outcomes

In this paper, we distinguish between factor/output substitution and shifts in the production technology frontier. Our model includes the by-products of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide emissions where the function requires the simultaneous expansion of good outputs and reductions in emissions. We estimate a directional output distance function for 80 countries over the period 1971–2000 to measure the exogenous and oil price-induced technological change. On average, we find substantial oil price-induced technological progress at the world level when long-term oil prices are rising, although the growth rate is more volatile in developed countries than in developing countries. The results also show that developed countries experience higher exogenous technological progress in comparison with developing countries, and the gap between the two has increased during the period of our study.     

FDI溢出效应、创新活动与技术进步—基于中国高技术产业的实证分析

科技创新投入、人力资源积累以及FDI引致的技术外溢效应都对中国高科技产业技术进步产生正向的影响。当区分行业中不同的产权组织形式后再进行检验时,结果差异很大,国有企业的技术进步主要来源于人力资本积累而非科技创新投入,FDI技术外溢效应对技术进步也产生不利影响;而三资企业中的技术进步基本上来源于FDI技术外溢效应,而不是来源于科技创新投入和人力资源的积累。     

沉睡知识对企业技术创新持续性的影响——一个有调节的中介作用模型

沉睡知识是知识经济时代企业技术持续创新的重要途径。为打开不同类型沉睡知识与技术创新持续性关系的“黑箱”,基于知识属性理论,将沉睡知识划分为显性沉睡知识和隐性沉睡知识两个维度,并引入资源拼凑作为中介变量、知识治理机制作为调节变量,构建一个有调节的中介作用模型,提出沉睡知识与技术创新持续性间关系假设,基于调查问卷数据进行实证研究。结果表明：显性沉睡知识和隐性沉睡知识均负向影响技术创新持续性;资源拼凑在两类沉睡知识与技术创新持续性间起部分中介作用;知识治理机制负向调节隐性沉睡知识与技术创新持续性间的关系,同时倒U型调节资源拼凑在两类沉睡知识与技术创新持续性间的中介效应强度。     

Regional sustainability: How useful are current tools of sustainability assessment at the regional scale?

Sustainability assessment methods are primarily aimed at global, national or state scales. However, modelling sustainability at finer spatial scales, such as the region, is essential for understanding and achieving sustainability. Regions are emerging as an essential focus for sustainability researchers, natural resource managers and strategic planners working to develop and implement sustainability goals. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods - ecological footprint, wellbeing assessment, ecosystem health assessment, quality of life and natural resource availability - at the regional scale. Each of these assessment methods are tested using South East Queensland (SEQ) as a case study. It was selected because of its ecological and demographic diversity, its combination of coastal and land management issues, and its urban metropolitan and rural farm and non-farm communities. The applicability of each of these methods to regional assessment was examined using an evaluation criteria matrix, which describes the attributes of an effective method and the characteristics that make these methods useful for regional management and building community capacity to progress sustainability. We found that the methods tested failed to effectively measure progress toward sustainability at the regional scale, demonstrating the need for a new method for assessing regional sustainability.     

The interdependence between the saving rate and technology across regimes: evidence from South Africa

Empirical Economics - This paper hypothesises that the saving rate and technological progress are interdependently determined by a common exogenous source, so that an exogenous shock to the saving...     

A Renewable Resource-based Ramsey Model with Costly Resource Extraction

This paper derives the analytical solution of arenewable resource-based Ramsey economy withcostly resource extraction. The goal is toascertain whether costly resource extractioncan induce nonlinear dynamical properties in the system. We find that the solution for a model with constant technology can exhibit multiple steady states,and the comparative statics effects for consumption,utility, and the stock of nature capital areambiguous in a number of different cases. Moreover, thesolution for a model with exogenous technological progress exhibits unusual comparative dynamics andthe possibility of multiple balanced growthpaths. An increase in the rate of technologicalprogress induces a long-run growth rate in per capitaconsumption that depends on parameters of the productionfunction. Overall, technological progress inthe model can be less beneficial than in the standardeconomic growth model in which resourceextraction is costless.     

Subsistence consumption and natural resource depletion: Can resource-rich low-income countries realize sustainable consumption paths?

This contribution is concerned with efficient use of a resource if households are characterized by Stone–Geary preferences with a minimum subsistence level of consumption. Subsistence consumption implies particular minimum requirements for initial endowments with reproducible man-made capital and resources. If these are not met, the economy is not able to cover subsistence consumption such as nutrition. Focusing on the steady state, we find that the equilibrium can be governed by zero or positive growth. The latter occurs if the rate of exogenous technical change exceeds the rate of time preference. In the former case, we can show that Hartwick’s investment rule applies in a steady state. Finally, we calibrate the model for developing but resource-rich countries and trace the full dynamic development of the economy. Furthermore, we evaluate this full adjustment process regarding several sustainability indicators.     

Influence of Technology Change on High-Quality Economic Development in China

Since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, rapid growth has been witnessed in the Chinese economy, thanks to the introduced technological progress as well as the institutional advantages of the country. However, while this exogenous technological progress promotes economic growth quantitatively, it is, unfortunately, not conducive to the improvement of the quality of the economy. Structural imbalances have thus been produced, which hinder the high-quality development of the economy of the country. Besides, by way of the “supply and demand rebalance mechanism,” “resource optimized allocation mechanism,” and “new and old kinetic energy conversion mechanism,” original technological progress can effectively push forward the quality change, efficiency change and dynamic change in the economy, thereby promoting the innovation, coordination, greenness and openness as well as the shared development of the economy. Therefore, the current technological transformation in China needs to change from the second stage—the stage of transition from the introduced technological progress mode to the original technological progress mode then to the third stage—the stage mainly based on the original technological progress, which is the key to the successful transformation of the Chinese economy from the high-speed growth phase to the high-quality development phase.     

The systems dynamics of endogenous population growth in a renewable resource-based growth model

This paper evaluates the dynamic effects of adding an endogenous process for human population growth into a renewable resource-based economic growth model. Endogenizing human population growth in a static, constant technology form of the model gives rise to a dynamically complex system, with the possibility of multiple steady states of several types, and unusual comparative static responses to changes in the system's parameters. Adding technological progress to the model gives rise to the possibility of multiple sustainable paths for the variables in the system. These results reinforce concerns raised by ecological economists about systems stability and sustainability, since exogenous shocks to the system could move the economy from higher welfare to lower welfare equilibria or, in the model with technological progress, from higher welfare to lower welfare sustainable growth paths. Moreover, this kind of dynamic complexity adds to the management challenge faced by policy makers, who could confront the necessity of maneuvering the economy among different equilibria or sustainable growth paths.     

Viable Ramsey economies

The Ramsey model of economic growth is revisited from the perspective of viability theory. The Ramsey model, augmented with minimal consumption and sustainability criteria, becomes a viability problem. The framework allows for a clear picture of optimal viable, optimal non‐viable, and viable non‐optimal paths. The drastic sacrifices in terms of present consumption required by the implementation of Brundtland sustainability are visualized, the rich countries bearing the major part of the burden. The econometric analysis of viability sets enhances the role of technological progress in ensuring Brundtland sustainability. Preference parameters such as the pure time preference rate are statistically non‐significant.     

Easter Island: historical anecdote or warning for the future?

Two standard solutions for the ‘Malthusian Trap’ involve institutional reforms and technological progress. Using Easter Island as an example, we investigate the hypothetical role that technological progress and population management reform might have played in preventing the collapse of the island's civilization. The model includes a composite manufactured good and a composite harvested renewable resource. Fertility is assumed to rise with per capita income. The resource's carrying capacity and intrinsic growth rate as well as labor's harvesting productivity are subject to technological progress. Fertility is subject to population management reform. The model yields a system of two simultaneous, nonlinear, non-autonomous differential equations. We first study the system's steady states. The system is then parameterized for Easter Island and its comparative dynamics are investigated in simulations. We find that technological progress can generate large fluctuations in population, renewable resources, and per capita utility, sometimes resulting in system collapse. With high fertility rates, the population and the resource vanish. None of the simulations investigated here exhibit a constantly growing per capita utility over time. Finally, we evaluate the applicability of these results to contemporary societies.     

General Equilibrium Effects of Green Technological Progress

This paper demonstrates that technological progress in production of renewable energy can influence the extraction path of fossil fuels indirectly by a change in the equilibrium interest rate. We show in a simple model that the indirect effect can be so strong that first-period or even aggregate extraction levels rise with green technological progress, contrary to popular expectations.     

A dynamic CGE model for jointly accounting ageing population,automation and environmental tax reform. European Union as a case study

We develop a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model based on the combination of different versions of GTAP utilities where alternative scenarios on ageing population trends are combined with projections on the incidence of automation into production processes and the adoption of unilateral decarbonisation policies. By simultaneously controlling for these different challenges that especially developed countries should face in the next decades, it is possible to disentangle non-linear mechanisms that will influence sustainability of public budget when the three issues are jointly combined. The European Union is taken as a case study. The first result is that ageing trends will impact fiscal sustainability reducing the EU capacity to respect the Stability and Growth Pact parameters. Second, when also considering technical change related to automation and robotics in the production process, fiscal sustainability will improve only in the case of input-neutral technological change. On the contrary, if biased technical change produces unemployment impact, negative impacts of ageing population are reinforced by automation. Third, the adoption of an environmental tax, here modelled in the form of a carbon price, leads to an improvement in environmental sustainability but has non-linear effects of fiscal sustainability.     

GAUGING THE SOURCES OF GROWTH OF HIGH‐TECH AND LOW‐TECH INDUSTRIES: THE CASE OF KOREAN MANUFACTURING*

Literature argues that the source of growth for high‐tech industries emanates from technological progress, while that for low‐tech industries comes from technical efficiency improvement. Also, some empirical studies have shown that technological progress is often accompanied by deterioration in technical efficiency. The focus in this study is to discuss a methodology and test the above two hypotheses with regard to Korean manufacturing data from 1970 to 1997. The study found that the 2.5 per cent average annual rate of technological progress during this period was the major contributor to total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Korean manufacturing whereas technical efficiency grew by a modest 1.1 per cent per annum. The analysis also showed that technological progress was responsible for TFP growth in both high‐tech and low‐tech industries and that both technological progress and technical efficiency improvement co‐existed in the case of Korean manufacturing industries.     

Government Ponzi games and the sustainability of public deficits under uncertainty

This paper reconsiders the conditions under which a government may engage in debt roll-over schemes by financing interest payments through the issue of new debt. Output growth rates in excess of interest rates on government debt have traditionally been considered grounds for sustaining such schemes. A government may avoid debt repayment, or even run a primary deficit forever, and yet maintain a bounded debt-to-income ratio. Recent research has pointed at the stronger constraints placed on government behaviour by uncertain output growth. We show that this is not the case when an alternative criterion for solvency is used, namely that the debt-to-income ratio converges almost surely in the long run. In this case, the government is solvent when the asymptotic growth rate of the economy exceeds the asymptotic interest rate on debt, a natural extension of a familiar criterion in a deterministic environment.Convergence to the long-run outcome may, however, be a slow process. For realistic parameter values, long-run-stable fiscal plans may resemble unsustainable plans over long horizons. This circumstance may explain the observed poor performance of debt ratios as indicators of fiscal sustainability.