Empirical testing of genuine savings as an indicator of weak sustainability: a three-country analysis of long-run trends

Hanley, N. , Oxley, L., Greasley, D., McLaughlin, E. and Blum, M. (2016) Empirical testing of genuine savings as an indicator of weak sustainability: a three-country analysis of long-run trends. Environmental and Resource Economics, 63(2), pp. 313-338. (doi: 10.1007/s10640-015-9928-7)

[img]
Preview
Text
154108.pdf - Accepted Version

1MB

Abstract

Genuine Savings has emerged as a widely-used indicator of sustainable development. This approach to conceptualising what sustainability is about has strong links to work published by Anil Markandya and colleagues over 20 years ago. In this paper, we use long-term data stretching back to 1870 to undertake empirical tests of the relationship between Genuine Savings (GS) and future well-being for three countries: Britain, the USA and Germany. Our tests are based on an underlying theoretical relationship between GS and changes in the present value of future consumption. Based on both single country and panel results, we find evidence supporting the existence of a cointegrating (long run equilibrium) relationship between GS and future well-being, and fail to reject the basic theoretical result on the relationship between these two macroeconomic variables. This provides some support for the GS measure of weak sustainability.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Hanley, Professor Nicholas
Authors: Hanley, N., Oxley, L., Greasley, D., McLaughlin, E., and Blum, M.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Journal Name:Environmental and Resource Economics
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0924-6460
ISSN (Online):1573-1502
Published Online:18 June 2015
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media
First Published:First published in Environmental and Resource Economics 63(2): 313-338
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

University Staff: Request a correction | Enlighten Editors: Update this record