1st Edition

Environment and Employment A Reconciliation

Edited By Philip Lawn Copyright 2009
    412 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    416 Pages 50 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Mounting evidence suggests that GDP growth is damaging the natural environment and unlikely to be ecologically sustainable in the long-run. At the same time, an annual GDP growth rate of around three percent is regarded as the minimum necessary to prevent unemployment from escalating. Clearly, a trade-off exists between environmental goals and employment goals, yet this trade-off has been largely ignored or denied.

    This book aims to resolve the environment-employment dilemma by suggesting ways and means to achieve low rates of unemployment, or preferably full employment, in the context of a low-growth or steady-state economy. In search of a solution to this dilemma, this book seeks to answer the following questions:

    1. What existing paradigms offer a possible foundation for further investigation into issues dealing with both the environment and employment?

    1. What specific initiatives can be implemented to deal with unemployment given that any potential solution must be consistent with responsible macroeconomic policy?

    1. To what extent can ecological tax reform provide a solution to the environment-employment dilemma?

    1. Under what circumstances is it clear that certain forms of employment generation are antithetic to the goal of ecological sustainability?

    1. How can more favourable employment-generating opportunities be exploited in ways which lower unemployment or achieve full employment without the need for ecologically-destructive GDP growth?

    This book will no doubt stimulate a broader discussion on the issue, and it may just begin a process that leads to the eventual emergence of a viable policy strategy to generate a sustainable, full employment future. This book will be of interest to decision-makers, civil servants, researchers, and NGO employees as well as students of environmental and ecological economics and issues related to employment and unemployment.

    PART I: AN INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENT AND EMPLOYMENT

    Chapter 1: Why focus on the connection between the environment and employment?

    Philip Lawn

    Chapter 2: The potential conflict between ecological sustainability and full employment

    Philip Lawn

    PART II: POST-KEYNESIAN ECONOMICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

    Chapter 3: Why have Post-Keynesians (perhaps) inadequately dealt with issues related to the environment?

    Andrew Mearman

    Chapter 4: Recovering and extending classical and Marshallian foundations for Post-Keynesian environmental economics

    Paul Christensen

    Chapter 5: Post-Keynesian economics and sustainable development

    Richard Holt

     

    PART III: GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT VERSUS GUARANTEED INCOME

    Chapter 6: The Basic Income Guarantee and the goals of equity, efficiency, and environmentalism

    Karl Widerquist and Michael Lewis

    Chapter 7: Evaluating the economic and environmental viability of Basic Income and Job Guarantees

    Pavlina Tcherneva

    Chapter 8: A comparison of the macroeconomic consequences of Basic Income and Job Guarantee schemes

    William Mitchell and Martin Watts

    PART IV: ECOLOGICAL TAX REFORM AND THE DOUBLE DIVIDEND

    Chapter 9: An applied general equilibrium analysis of a double dividend policy for the Spanish economy

    Antonio Manresa and Ferran Sancho

    Chapter 10: An empirical assessment of ecological tax reform and the double dividend

    Philip Lawn

    PART V: JOBS VERSUS THE ENVIRONMENT

    Chapter 11: A city that works – employment patterns and ecosystem service requirements in greater Christchurch, New Zealand

    Nigel Jollands, Nancy Golubiewski, and Garry McDonald

    Chapter 12: Employment and environment in a sustainable Europe

    Freiderich Hinterberger, Ines Omann, and Andrea Stocker

    Chapter 13: Managing without growth

    Peter Victor and Gideon Rosenbluth

    PART VI: CONCLUSION

    Chapter 14: Final thoughts on reconciling the goals of ecological sustainability and full employment

    Philip Lawn

    Biography

    Philip Lawn is a Senior Lecturer in ecological economics at Flinders University, Australia. His work includes six books, numerous book chapters, and nearly fifty journal articles. His more recent book, co-edited with Matthew Clarke, focuses on sustainable welfare in the Asia-Pacific region.