Sustainable Relationship between Population Growth, Natural Environment and Technological Development in the Long Run

概要

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The conventional wisdom regarding long term linkage between technological development, population growth and sustainable development stretches the efficacy of technology too far. There were many phases in recorded history, where contemporary technological development, which temporarily served the cause of economic growth, went against natural balance. The problem is not with technology but with its judicious use. In a Cobb-Douglas framework, land requirement is very often normalized to be one for functional convenience. Our argument is not against that simplification as such. One of the main objectives of this enquiry is to see whether any major changes occur in the conclusions drawn under conventional specification, if land requirement for urbanization, agriculture and forestry is introduced into the system separately. Introduction of land may substantially change some of the conclusions derived from an over-simplified framework. The conclusions from present investigation may not be in disharmony with the history of technology, population dynamics and sustainable economic progress, given cross-country heterogeneity across the world particularly between the developed and developing world. Therefore, land requirement for other purposes particularly for agriculture, forest and environmental balance must be incorporated into the models of development by all governments in the developing countries.
2012-12-25