This important book presents fresh thinking and new results on the measurement of sustainable development.
Economic theory suggests that there should be a link between future wellbeing and current wealth. This book explores this linkage under a variety of headings: population growth, technological change, deforestation and natural resource trade. The chief emphasis is on empirical measurement of of the change in real wealth - this measure of net or 'genuine' saving is a key indicator of sustainable development.
Just as imporatantly, the authors show that many resource-abundant countries would be considerably wealthier today if they managed to save and invest the profits from natural resource exploitation in the past.