Will Economic Growth Destroy The Planet?

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GED = gross external damages from pollution.

Environmental Accounting for Pollution hide caption

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Environmental Accounting for Pollution

GED = gross external damages from pollution.

Environmental Accounting for Pollution

Economists love economic growth. It's an essential driver of rising living standards.

But on today's show, we wrestle with a question we've heard a lot from our listeners: Is economic growth bad for the planet?

We talk to one economist, Herman Daly, who argues that economic growth is in fact environmentally unsustainable.

And we hear from a second, Robert Mendelsohn who says economic growth and a healthy environment can co-exist — but who argues we should include the effects of pollution in the price of electricity.

For More:

Read the UN population report

See Mendelson's study, Environmental Accounting for Pollution

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