A contribution to the qualitative, interdisciplinary modeling of environmental development

Stijepic, Denis (2018): A contribution to the qualitative, interdisciplinary modeling of environmental development.

Abstract

We suggest a simple, interdisciplinary, qualitative, system-theoretical model of long-run environmental development, where the dynamics of environmental quality are determined by the interactions across the political, economic, ecological/natural, and socio-cultural systems. The resulting model is a self-regulating feedback-loop system and can be used to explain the existence and the characteristics of different empirically observable economic/societal development stages (pollution phase and ecological phase) and environmental and economic policy-regime switches consistent with empirical evidence.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: environmental quality, environmental pollution, long-run dynamics, development, growth, development stages, policy-regime switches; economic; socio-cultural; political; ecological; qualitative; system theory; feedback loop; self-regulation
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development ; Environment and Trade ; Sustainability ; Environmental Accounts and Accounting ; Environmental Equity ; Population Growth

References

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S., Robinson, J.A. (2001). The colonial origins of comparative development: an empirical investigation. American Economic Review 91(5): 1369–1401.

Arrow, K., Bolin, B., Costanza, R., Dasgupta, P., Folke, C., Holling, C.S., Jansson, B.-O., Levin, S., Mäler, K.-G., Perrings, C.A., Pimentel, D. (1995). Economic growth, carrying capacity, and the environment. Science 268: 520–521.

Barro, R.J., Sala-i-Martin, X. (2004). Economic Growth. 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Coyle, G. (2000). Qualitative and quantitative modelling in system dynamics: some research questions. System Dynamics Review 16(3): 225–244

Dinda, S. (2004). Environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: a survey. Ecological Economics 49: 431– 455.

Fourastié, J. (1949). Le Grand Espoir du XXe siècle. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Galor, O. (2011). Unified Growth Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Habermas, J. (1973). Legitimationsprobleme im Spätkapitalismus. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.

Kongsamut P., Rebelo S., Xie D. (2001). Beyond balanced growth. Review of Economic Studies 68(4): 869–882.

Krüger, J.J. (2008). Productivity and structural change: a review of the literature. Journal of Economic Surveys 22: 330–363.

Kuipers, B. (1986). Qualitative simulation. Artificial Intelligence 29: 289–338.

van Neuss, L. (2018). The drivers of structural change. Journal of Economic Surveys 32.

Romer, P.M. (1994). The origins of endogenous growth. Journal of Economic Perspectives 8(1): 3 – 22.

Rostow, W.W. (1978). The World Economy. London: MacMillan.

Schettkat, R., Yocarini, L. (2006). The shift to services employment: a review of the literature. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 17: 127–147.

Stern, D.I. (2004). The rise and fall of the environmental Kuznets curve. World Development 32(8): 1419–1439.

Stijepic, D. (2015). A geometrical approach to structural change modelling. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 33: 71–85.

Stijepic, D. (2017a). Positivistic models of structural change. Journal of Economic Structures 6: 1–30.

Stijepic, D. (2017b). An argument against Cobb-Douglas production functions (in multi-sector growth modeling). Economics Bulletin 37: 1143–1150.

Stijepic, D. (2018). On the system-theoretical foundations of non-economic parameter constancy assumptions in economic growth modeling. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences 13(1): 9–23.

Wagner, H. (2017). On the (non-)sustainability of China’s development strategies [long version]. CEAMeS Discussion Paper No. 6/2017. Centre for East Asia Macro-economic Studies (CEAMeS), Hagen, Germany. Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2946768

Wagner, H. (2018a). On the (non-)sustainability of China’s development strategies. Forthcoming in: Chinese Economy 51.

Wagner, H. (2018b). Stabilitätspolitik [Stability Policy]. 11th edition. Munich: DeGruyter-Oldenbourg.