Peter Daniels

THE INS AND OUTS OF WATER USE – A REVIEW OF MULTI-REGION INPUT–OUTPUT ANALYSIS AND WATER FOOTPRINTS FOR REGIONAL SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS AND POLICY

This paper reviews current knowledge about water footprints (WFs) and the role of input–output techniques. We first provide an overview of the prevailing ‘bottom-up’, process-based methods and their strengths and limitations. This overview leads to discussion of the benefits of combining process-based water footprints with information from input–output techniques. The central theme and proposition is that environmental multi-region input–output analysis (E-MRIO) has a powerful capacity to establish the geography of embodied water, and to complement process-based approaches to WF by expanding their supply-chain coverage. Combining process and input–output information provides valuable information for a diverse set of water planning and water policy objectives. A comprehensive and systematic outline of potential policy applications of E-MRIO (and process analysis methods) is presented.

Approaches for Quantifying the Metabolism of Physical Economies: A Comparative Survey: Part II: Review of Individual Approaches

Summary This article is the second of a two-part series that describes and compares the essential features of nine “physical economy” approaches for mapping and quantifying the material demands of the human economy upon the natural environ-ment. These approaches are critical tools in the design and implementation of industrial ecology strategies for greater eco-efficiency and reduced environmental impacts of human economic activity. Part I of the series provided an overview, meth-odological classification, and comparison of a selected set of major materials flow analysis (MFA) and related techniques. This sequel includes a convenient reference and overview of the major metabolism measurement approaches in the form of a more detailed summary of the key specific analytical and other features of the approaches introduced in part I. The surveyed physical economy related environmental analysis ap-proaches include total material requirement and output mod-els, bulk MFA (IFF (Department of Social Ecology, Institute for Interdiscplinary Studies of Austrian Universities) material flow balance model variant), physical input-output tables, substance flow analysis, ecological footprint analysis, environmental space, material intensity per unit service, life-cycle assessment (LCA), the sustainable process index, and company-level MFA.

Research and development,human capital and trade performance in technology-intensive manufactures: A cross-country analysis

Abstract This paper comprises an extensive examination of the relationship between commonly utilized policy indicators of national technological capability and observed trade success in technology-intensive manufactures, across 52 countries, in the 1980s. A central focus is the relative performance of policy indicators which directly measure innovative activity (such as patent output and expenditure and employed scientists and engineers in R&D) versus those measuring general efforts at increasing national levels of human capital. The study design is guided by the inter-country, intrasectoral approach outlined by Dosi et al. [19] — it emphasizes differences in trade performance based on the notion of international competitiveness (but also compares results for conventional revealed comparative advantage indices). The large number of countries included, and the nature of the policy objectives adopted, have necessitated a highly aggregated approach using nation-wide attributes and trade in one broad technologyintensive sector as the measure of demonstrated international competitiveness. Simple correlation and multiple regression techniques are used to assess the association of four main sets of national attributes (indicators of direct innovative activity, general human capital development, physical capital formation and natural resource endowment) with technology-intensive trade performance. The empirical findings provide further support for the importance of national differences in technological capability as a determinant of structural, and international, competitiveness within the technology-intensive sector of production. They suggest that policy indicators measuring actual innovative activity and physical capital formation have a much closer link to technology-intensive trade than the general educational effort or output indicators. “Demand-side” measures -which proxy the actual employment and application of resources for R&D purposes — demonstrate the strength of association required for reliable policy evaluation of real national differences in technological capability. The poor performance of the general human capital supply variables highlights the need for a careful consideration of the optimality of the allocation of substantial levels of scarce national resources to broad-based educational output. A number of other significant results concerning the link between technology indicators, technology-intensive trade and economic performance are discussed.

Buddhist economics and the environment: Material flow analysis and the moderation of society's metabolism

The reduction of the “metabolism” of the human economy has become one of the central themes of recent environmental and economic research and policy focused upon paths for achieving global sustainable development. Since the late 1980s, there has emerged a diverse array of “physical economy” approaches that utilise some form of material flow analysis (MFA) to quantify the pattern of flows of material and energy into, within, and out of the economic system. In principle, the reduction of the human socioeconomic metabolism, and appropriate changes in technology and consumption, are highly consistent with Buddhist economics. Indeed, MFA may be one of the most valuable devices for encouraging and implementing a global “green” technoeconomic paradigm that helps realize the type of benefits proffered under the vision of Buddhist economics. This paper describes the links between methodology or potential application of MFA and the central themes of the Buddhist economic path to the long‐term, harmonious co‐existence of humans within the natural environment.

Barriers to sustainable development in natural resource‐based economies: Australia as a case study

Abstract A growing number of nations are debating the appropriate path and speed of adjustment toward sustainable development in 21st century. However, for many nations whose economies are based on natural resources, implementation of environmental protection and resource management strategies designed for longer‐term development purposes seems highly improbable in view of formidable pressures for maximization of output levels in the short term. Many will not even be faced with the choice between environmental quality or economic growth as envisaged in traditional growth models. External debt pressures and a struggling trade sector based on primary sector exports undergoing extensive terms of trade deterioration could well induce an insidious and protracted period of simultaneous economic decline and degradation or depletion of natural capital stocks. This situation would represent a fundamental constraint upon the attainment of sustainable development proposals. While Australia is unique as a “Western”; ...

Economic change, the environment and Buddhism in Asia

The paper aims to identify the form and significance of the influence of Buddhism upon the nature of past and future national economic change. It is divided to address two major tasks. The first section analyses the world view and behavioural prescriptions of Buddhism and examines their compatibility with the requirements commonly presumed for economic development. This analysis suggests that, contrary to conventional views, Buddhism has many positive features consistent with processes and change leading to growth in economic welfare (especially under the modern ecologically sustainable development framework). The second section consists of an empirical analysis of comparative social, economic and environmental indicators across nations where Buddhism is likely to have had a substantial influence. Although few regularities are identified across the entire group of nations, some internal similarities are noted together with discussion of the importance of historical factors and development potentiality linked to the influence of Buddhism. The analysis provides a useful overview of relative conditions and trends in Buddhist‐influenced nations on a diverse range of social, economic and environmental indicators.

National technology gaps and trade — an empirical study of the influence of globalisation

Abstract This paper examines the hypothesis that economic internationalisation is acting to reduce the importance of national technology ‘gaps’ as determinants of trade patterns and performance. The cross-country analysis uses two approaches to assess the dynamic nature of the relationship between national investment in technological capability (proxied by both R&D activity and human capital) and technology-intensive (TI) trade performance. Natural resource endowment and the changing impact of physical capital formation are also investigated. The study includes approximately 48 nations and is based on data from the mid-1970s to 1990. The empirical evidence from one approach undertaken does not support the globalisation hypothesis as national investment in technology and human capital is shown to have maintained its link to international trade success in TI manufactures over the study period. However, the findings of the alternative approach are ambiguous. A positive association between technology investment catch-up and ongoing TI manufacturing trade performance is evident for the newly industrialised economies (NICs), but the results suggest that an inverse relationship may apply for many of the ‘mature’ Western economies.

Adapting ecological modernisation to the Australian context

This article uses a broad range of ecological modernisation (EM) literature to derive five core theoretical themes: technological innovation; engaging with economic imperatives; political and institutional change; transforming the role of social movements; and discursive change. These themes are then developed into an analytical framework and adapted to suit the Australian context. The underlying argument is that while key elements of weak EM can be found in most environmental and sustainability policies, stronger versions have more transformative potential. Care must be taken, however, in transplanting the theory from the European political and economic environment to the Australian context.

Technology revolutions and social development: Prospects for a green technoeconomic paradigm in lower income countries

Purpose – Aims to assess the potential for a broad “green” technoeconomic paradigm (TEP) to effectively achieve and sustain higher levels of welfare from economic and environmental sources in manylower income countries (LIC). A green TEP comprises a new socioeconomic system based upon a set of inter-related technologies that increase human welfare, but focus upon saving material, energy and other environmental resources. TEPs have pervasive social and economic effects that include substantial productivity, trade competitiveness, and environmental quality advantages. The desirability of such economic change must incorporate the general approach of social economics and alternative notions of well-being. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is largely discursive in nature and provides a systematic identification of the LIC conditions that are likely to promote, and benefit from, the pervasive adoption of material- and energy-saving technologies. Some results of an exploratory cross-country study of the empirical link between technology capability and the human development index (HDI) are utilized in the discussion. Findings – The paper concludes that a green TEP may well provide a viable alternative development approach in the LICs. The main advantages are derived from related resource efficiency gains and reductions in the socioeconomic metabolism, and the benefits of a relative production factor shift toward labor (and away from materials, energy, and environment-intensive capital). The potential for LICs is also facilitated by the positive spillovers and decreasing cost of green TEP-related knowledge and technology diffusion in the expanding, decentralizing global communication network. The higher income nations would need to play a significant role in this process. Originality/value – Ecological modernisation and material and energy-saving technologies are widely viewed as essential for achieving long-term economic and social well-being improvements in the twenty-first century and beyond. Discussion of this promising approach typically assumes that this transformation is only viable in the technological and economic context of the higher income nations. However, this paper provides a detailed case for the strategic encouragement and adoption of a green TEP for sustainable economic development and environmental conditions in LICs.

Ecological restructuring for sustainable development: evidence from the Australian economy

Abstract The possibility of reconciliation between economic growth and environmental quality has been foreshadowed by several influential reports over the last decade. The potential basis for reconciliation lies in delinking economic growth from material and energy throughput, especially through ecological restructuring toward modes of production, consumption and trade which are less environmentally intensive. So far, empirical studies of delinking and ecological restructuring have shown conditional improvements in a small number of industrialized countries—mostly high-income European economies. However, there are reasons to believe that the situation may vary in natural resource-based economies (such as Australia) due to differences in trade and economic structures and incentives. Achieving (global) sustainable development will hinge upon prospects for ecological restructuring in all nations. Some of the central concepts of ecological restructuring are reviewed and extended to an empirical search for signs of delinking in Australia. To do this, time series trends in physical quantities of seven environmentally significant factors are examined (i.e. energy, freight, cement, paper, steel, aluminium and plastic). The factors serve as proxies for economic activity of a particularly environmentally intensive nature. Three dimensions are analyzed: material-intensity, absolute throughput, and per capita throughput. The results show that promising trends in the 1980s have not persisted in the face of relatively high population growth and economic growth. Some implications for ecological restructuring as a basis for sustainable development in natural resource-based economies are discussed in light of evidence from Australia.