Q20 - Renewable Resources and Conservation: GeneralReturn

The conventional view of the sustainability of social development is based on the works of the Roman Club, particularly the book "The Limits to Growth" by Donella Meadows and her colleagues (1972). In their opinion, the human population and economy are depleting the wealth of the Earth and pollutants and wastes are burdening the environment. However, the concern that mineral resources will be depleted is unsubstantiated. Environmental economics argues that a higher number of people and a higher income make resources scarcer on a short-term basis. For investors and entrepreneurs, higher prices represent an opportunity and an incentive to search for solutions. Many of them will not succeed in this search and they will bear the costs on their own. However, in a free society, the solutions are eventually found. And in the long run, we are better off thanks to the new discoveries than if the original problems had never occurred.

The 19th Annual Conference of European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, EAERE-2012, was held in Prague at the end of June 2012. Leading environmental economists discussed new research outcomes and economic theory extensions related to economics of climate change, efficient pollution reduction, optimal use of natural resources, nonmarket valuation and green economy.