The major challenge for the current generation of mankind is to develop a shared vision of a future that is both desirable to the vast majority of humanity and ecologically sustainable. Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future offers a broad, critical discussion on what such a future should...

this research presents an extension of the directional distance function model to measure performances for firms which produce a large number of pollutants and operate in different industrial sectors. I use this methodology to estimate productivity indexes on a sample of Italian firms that were...

Following the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, countries took up the difficult task of finding a common approach that would slow down the build-up of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere and delay changes to the planet's climate. A widespread concern among many of the participants...

By using conditional directional distance functions this paper investigates the effect of regional economic growth on regions’ environmental efficiency in greenhouse gas emissions. A sample of ninety eight regions (NUTS 2 level) from Germany, France and the U.K. has been used and regional...

This paper proposes a conditional directional distance function model in order to examine the link between regional environmental efficiency and GDP per capita levels. As an illustrative example we apply our model to USA regional data revealing an inverted ‘U’ shape relationship between...

This paper explores the relationship between economic development (in the form of GDP/c) and environmental pollution (in the form of sulphur emissions) by using a dynamic panel data for 97 countries for the time period 1950-2003. Various panel data econometric techniques are applied to a sample...

Climate stabilization requires low GHG emissions. Is this consistent with nondecreasing human welfare? Our welfare index, called quality of life (QuoL), emphasizes education, knowledge, and the environment. We calibrate a multigenerational model with education, physical capital, knowledge and...

Strong growth in disposable income has driven, and is still driving, consumption to unprecedented, but not sustainable levels. To explain the dynamic interplay of needs, need satisfaction, and innovation underlying that growth a behavioral theory of consumption is suggested and discussed with...