The economics of growth has come a long way since it regained center stage for economists in the mid-1980s. The Chinese economy grew so rapidly despite the absence of full-fledged private property rights. After the early 1980s the India economy grew to more than double its growth rate. Botswana and Mauritius successfully managed to avoid the problems that other countries in sub--Saharan Africa succumbed to.
Indonesia managed to grow over three decades despite weak institutions and distorted microeconomic policies but suffered such a collapse after 1997. What emerges from this is a deeper understanding of the centrality of institutions. (Kumar & Siddharthan, 1998) Economies that have performed well over the long term owe their success not to geography or trade, but to institutions that have generated market-oriented incentives, protected property rights, and enabled stability. However, economies must watch out against a cookie-cutter approach to institution building. (Rodrik, 2003)
There is serious concern about the environmental degradation and human overpopulation problems that are significantly affecting planet Earth. However, "ecotourism" is dubious in that whether it is truly beneficial to the ecologies or the people who live in them. This includes revealing how some African game wardens are empowered to legally shoot to kill anyone suspected of poaching; to debunking the myth of the "untamed West" which ignored the profound impact Native American cultures and settlements had on the land. (United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development, Mansell & Wehn, 1998)
DeGregori (2002) contrasts "green consumerism" with another plank of the leftist agenda: income disparity, and shows, through a variety of examples, what the results of such national policies would be: increased prices and scarcity for all. In short, the green movement is for guilt-ridden rich folk, and not for the masses.
Addressing natural resources, DeGregori (2002) shows that........
