Structural change, economic growth and environmental dynamics with heterogeneous agents

Antoci, Angelo and Russu, Paolo and Ticci, Elisa (2008): Structural change, economic growth and environmental dynamics with heterogeneous agents.

Abstract

This paper presents a model which takes into account two main factors that have been partially neglected by the economic development literature: the environmental externalities of human activities and agents' heterogeneity in terms of asset endowment and, consequently, in terms of income source and vulnerability to depletion of natural resources. This approach permits to shed light on agents' differences in feed-back mechanisms and interactions between their choices and environmental dynamics and allow us to propose a taxonomy of structural changes on the basis of distributive, environmental and economic impact. In such context, we identify under which conditions each structural change can occur. In par ticular, we identify new requirements for prompting positive structural changes, i.e. a movement of labour to capitalistic activities associated with poverty reduction and the alleviation of environmental pressures.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Structural change; environmental externalities; eco- nomic development; poverty alleviation
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O11 - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O41 - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D62 - Externalities; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q2 - Renewable Resources and Conservation > Q20 - General

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