Economics and the Environment, 10th Edition

9Measuring Sustainability

9.1 Introduction

Over the past 200 years, human well‐being has shown dramatic improvements on a broad range of metrics. Economist Gale Johnson of the University of Chicago summarized the trends over the past two centuries: “the improvement in human well‐being goes far beyond the enormous increase in the value of the world's output. The improvements are evident in fewer famines, increased caloric intakes, reduced child and infant mortality, increased life expectancy, great reductions in time worked, and greatly increased percentage of the population that is literate” (Johnson 2000). The average person today is much richer, better fed, and lives much longer than his or her ancestors. The gains have been dramatic. In India, life expectancy increased from 23 years in 1990 to over 65 years now. In the United States, life expectancy increased from 48 years in 1900 to 78 years now.

Why have living standards gone up so dramatically despite limited natural resources and a vastly increased population? Aren't there limits to economic growth considering we live on a finite planet with limited resources? The key question in this chapter is whether the trends of the past 200 years will continue in the future or whether climate change, loss of biodiversity, and the continued loss of natural capital will eventually reduce future well‐being and do so in a sudden and dramatic manner.

We have already explored the theoretical basis for optimism (neoclassical economics) ...