1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
On the Economic Feasibility of Sustainable Development
| Project/Area Number |
03101001
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | KYOTO UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
UETA Kazuhiro Kyoto University, Faculty of Economics, Professor., 経済学部, 教授 (20144397)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MORITA Tsuneyuki National Institute for Environmental Studies.Instractor, 地球環境研究グループ, 総合研究官 (80101054)
NAKAGAMI Ken'ichi Ritsumeikan University, College of Policy Science, Professor, 政策科学部, 教授 (10109077)
SAWA Takamitsu Kyoto University, Institute of Econmic Research, Professor, 経済研究所, 教授 (80012128)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1991 – 1995
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| Keywords | Sustainable Development / Economic Instrument / Environmental Tax / Environmentally-Sound Economic Development / Coot Allocation / Sustainalibity |
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| Research Abstract |
The problem of the global environment became identified as a problem common to all humanity in the post-cold war era. In order to curtail the emissions of CO2, the consumption of fossil fuels has to be reduced to the greatest extent possible. How can the consumption of fossil fuels be curtailed? It is necessary for us to extend our times horizon to 50-100 years and globalize our perspective. If we face up to the reality of the North/South problem and the problem of population explosion, we can clearly identify the environmental and energy constraints and the structive of the trilemma of environment, energy and growth. GNP indicator has some real flares, of which the unsatisfactory reflection of the utilization of nature is not the least important. Environmental resource accounting focuses on the valuation of nature in the absence of markets. Shadow prices should be computed on the basis of artificial supply and demand curves, taking into account sustainability standards for the compone
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nts of nature concerned. These computed prices have to be used to correct national income for environmental losses.
The changing perspective in environmental policy approaches appears to be reflected in a broad shift in policy emphasis away from traditional command and control instruments in favor of economic instruments and market mechanisms, information, liability and education. The main problem with the economic theory concerning the use of economic instruments for pollution control purposes is that it regards economic instruments as a complete alternative to administrative regulations, and that its arguments rests on the premise of market failure. This research attempts to treat the issue of economic instruments from a different approach from the partial equilibrium analysis of economic theory. It seeks to compare pollution control experiences from similar countries, making it possible to analysis whether economic instruments actually make a difference in practice. What might surprise some observers is that both policy designs and distributional aspects do in fact matter, and that there are immense differences in what may be attained under policy designs, depending on the policy instruments and strategy applied. Less
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