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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Sustainability And The Economics Of Embedded Values, Madhavi Venkatesan Apr 2015

Sustainability And The Economics Of Embedded Values, Madhavi Venkatesan

Madhavi Venkatesan

Increasing global awareness of natural resource depletion, heightened weather-related volatility attributable to climate change, and the subsequent emergence of multi-disciplinary sustainability programs in higher education have pronounced the void in the explanatory discipline of economics to address the values that have yielded the economic and environmental outcomes observable in prevailing sustainability discussions. Economic theory, models, and analysis are central to a discussion of how individuals interact not only with one another but also with the environment. Further, the implicit inclusion of economics in the daily behavior of individuals and nations strongly influences the observations of global sustainability, including economic equity …


Incorporating Sustainability Into Principles Of Macroeconomics: A Case Study, Madhavi Venkatesan Jan 2015

Incorporating Sustainability Into Principles Of Macroeconomics: A Case Study, Madhavi Venkatesan

Madhavi Venkatesan

Using grant funded resources, this case study explicitly engaged students in a Principles of Macroeconomics course with respect to the impact of sustainability-based values on economic indicators and standard of living parameters, while coincidentally opening discussion to the implicit nature of consumption-based values in the economic assessment of growth. Student assimilation and reaction to the curriculum was documented over the period of the course. Students provided responses to weekly questionnaires, which tracked their changing perceptions, values, and behaviors. Weekly class discussions and individual student assessment of the awareness fostered by reviewing the two divergent value structures also contributed to qualitative …


Roads And Resources: Groundwater Depletion In Lankao Country In The North China Plains, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Xiangzheng Deng, Yazhen Gong, Martino Pelli, Zhang Qian Jan 2015

Roads And Resources: Groundwater Depletion In Lankao Country In The North China Plains, Ujjayant N. Chakravorty, Xiangzheng Deng, Yazhen Gong, Martino Pelli, Zhang Qian

Ujjayant Chakravorty

China produces most of its food grains in the North China Plains. However, there is evidence that groundwater aquifers in this region are being overexploited. We use a unique GIS-referenced dataset of the depth of the water table for all the 12,000 odd tube wells in Lankao county. We find that the construction of new highways has led to a depletion of the water table in wells close to the highways. This relationship is robust to a variety of controls, including distance to river and primary canals, village and township fixed effects, the date of drilling of the well and …


A Letter From Doug Band, Doug Band Oct 2013

A Letter From Doug Band, Doug Band

Doug Band

A letter from Doug Band during his service on the Coca-Cola Company International Advisory Committee (the Committee). The Committee is a third-party group, which is composed of well-known, outside experts in the fields of health policy, environmental policy and public policy generally. The Committee was formed in 2012 to provide strategic guidance in support of the Company's business priorities and to strengthen a network of global opinion leaders. The Committee assists us in understanding related developments and trends in the world at large, and also in devising appropriate, responsive Company policy and action.


Are Green Cities Nice Places To Live? Examining The Link Between Urban Sustainability And Quality Of Life, David S. Bieri Sep 2013

Are Green Cities Nice Places To Live? Examining The Link Between Urban Sustainability And Quality Of Life, David S. Bieri

David S Bieri

The growing importance of nonmarket assets such as the environment, combined with the unprecedented availability of high-resolution data, has renewed broad interest in quantifying sustainability at different spatial levels. Policy-related decision making requires that potential sustainability measures meet three key requirements; (i) sustainability metrics need to be comprehensive such that they reflect the experience of representative households; (ii) sustainability indices need to be comparable across different geographic scales, and; (iii) measures of sustainability need to be economically meaningful, ideally tying into the larger system of national accounts. However, conventional sustainability indices do not tend to meet these criteria, rendering them …


Economics Of Water Use For Commodity Production In Scarcity Arid Regions: Kutum, Darfur, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor Jun 2011

Economics Of Water Use For Commodity Production In Scarcity Arid Regions: Kutum, Darfur, Issam A.W. Mohamed Professor

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

The paper investigates water use in a rural village in semi-arid of Darfur region. Water use is viewed from the perspective of four production sectors: agriculture, rural industry, trade and services as well as domestic: drinking, cooking and sanitary uses. Water for these uses may be from three sources: rain water, surface water, and groundwater. This study focuses on groundwater. Results of a detailed survey indicate that groundwater use is dominated by agricultural activities including irrigated vegetables and grains, tree crops, and animal rearing. A ratio of water use to income generated is used as a measure of water intensity …


Water Use For Commodity Production In Scarcity Arid Regions: Kutum, Darfur, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed Mar 2011

Water Use For Commodity Production In Scarcity Arid Regions: Kutum, Darfur, Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

Professor Issam A.W. Mohamed

This paper investigates water use in a rural village in semi-arid of Darfur region. Water use is viewed from the perspective of four production sectors: agriculture, rural industry, trade and services as well as domestic: drinking, cooking and sanitary uses. Water for these uses may be from three sources: rain water, surface water, and groundwater. This study focuses on groundwater. Results of a detailed survey indicate that groundwater use is dominated by agricultural activities including irrigated vegetables and grains, tree crops, and animal rearing. A ratio of water use to income generated is used as a measure of water intensity …


Environmental Crises: Past, Present Ad Future, M. Scott Taylor Jan 2009

Environmental Crises: Past, Present Ad Future, M. Scott Taylor

M. Scott Taylor

Environmental crises are distinguished by rapid and largely unexpected changes in environmental quality that are difficult if not impossible to reverse. Examples would be major extinctions and signi…cant degradations of an ecosystem. I argue there are three preconditions for crisis: failures in governance, an ecological system exhibiting a tipping point, and an economy/environment interaction with positive feedbacks. I develop a simple model to illustrate how a crisis may arise, and draw on our knowledge of past and present crises to highlight the mechanisms involved. I then speculate as to whether climate change is indeed a crisis in the making.


Globalization & Nationalism: A Recipe For Terror, Cari Bourette, Daniel Reader Mar 2006

Globalization & Nationalism: A Recipe For Terror, Cari Bourette, Daniel Reader

Cari Bourette

Nationalism appears to be part of the human condition; it may well be related to the human tendency toward tribalism. Whatever the case, nationalism appears to be a permanent feature on the global landscape. Globalization, while not a new phenomenon by any means, seems to be having a tremendous dilutory effect on the sovereignty of states; it now appears to be carrying the assault to the cultural frontiers of nationalism. Unlike the Westphalian constructs, however, nations will not so easily succumb. There is a greater inherent resistance to change in nations; the only historically effective method has been outright eradication …