You Can't Eat GNP - (Merloyd Lawrence Book) by Eric a Davidson & George M Woodwell (Paperback)

About the Book

Most estimates of wealth today are based upon gross domestic product, and many economists even see future wealth being created free of the constraints set by natural resources. Eric Davidson, scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, calls such thinking "Marie Antoinette economics" and reveals its grave underlying fallacies. In valuing land or forests, for instance, we tend to discount their future value for our own children; in analyzing costs and benefits, the price of these natural resources upon which we ultimately depend is usually wrong; and damages to these resources are seen as "externalities." Davidson exposes these fallacies and offers a blueprint for a truly sustainable economy.

Book Synopsis

"In clear, measured prose Davidson lays out how the traditional tools of economics don't work when you are talking about concrete things like soil, forests, garbage." -Inc. Ecology and economics are not doomed to be adversaries. This lively and concise book presents the exciting new insights of environmental economics as well as the three fallacies of conventional economic analysis. You Can't Eat GNP offers a blueprint for a truly sustainable economy that recognizes the natural resources (like water, air, and soil) on which we ultimately depend. Eric A. Davidson, Ph.D., is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. His fieldwork takes him from the Brazilian Amazon to the re-growing forests of New England and he has conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the NASA Ames Research Center. A Merloyd Lawrence Book

About the Author

Eric A. Davidson, Ph.D. is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center.