Environmental and Resource Economics in the World of the Poor

An eminent social thinker explains his views on why traditional environmental and resource economics has not met the needs of the developing world. The gaps between haves and have-nots are so great, says Partha Dasgupta, that many of our basic premises are mistaken or irrelevant in other international contexts. Thus, "the environmental economics to be found in the literature in the North cannot much resonate in the South".This breach helps explain the exclusion of environmental concerns from economic modeling in poor nations, causing a gap in development economics and the understanding of poverty, and thus deepening economic and environmental peril.The author establishes important connections between poverty, high fertility, and malnourishment with environmental damage and civic disconnection. For example, communal ownership is common in poor rural areas. Democratic decision making allows affected parties to make their own decisions. Such self-determination often results in more careful use of resources, yet democracy is too rarely found in these areas. High birthrates also help lock communities into poverty, and resource degradation. Dasgupta discusses the inter-relationships among such varied factors. This assessment is a thoughtful contribution to development economics, environmental/resource economics, and our sociopolitical understanding of poverty.