Sjak Smulders - Böcker

This volume includes a selection of papers presented at the conference “Susta- able Resource Use and Economic Dynamics” (SURED), held on Monte Verita ` in Ascona, Switzerland, in June 2004. Thirty years after the publication of the famous symposium issue of the Review of Economic Studies in 1974, which started the neoclassical literature on growth theory and resource economics. The conference sought to reinforce research efforts in order to provide adequate solutions for today’s challenges in the ?eld of sustainable development. The c- ference compiled innovative research from resource, energy and environmental economics, and dynamic economic theory. By bringing together leading experts, junior and senior scholars in these ?elds, it covered a broad range of aspects regarding the relationship between natural resource use and long-term economic development. The SURED conference made use of the wonderful surroundings on the “mountain of truth” and the remarkable history of the conference centre, which was shaped by the desire to return to a natural way of life. In this tradition, the conference aimed at ?nding ways of living in an economically developed world and at the same time taking into account the natural environment with its restr- tions and requirements. We take the opportunity to thank the staff of the Monte Verita ` centre for the hospitality and the excellent service.

Growth Theory in Historical Perspective is a collection of thirteen carefully selected essays by Theo van de Klundert which demonstrate the development of growth theory over the past forty years. The sequence of chapters reveals the shifts in focus which have occurred since the first formal growth models of the 1940s and 1950s. He illustrates how the Keynesian paradigm was replaced by neo-classical models, which in turn have been superseded by theories of endogenous technical progress, the focus of growth theory in the 1990s.The author explains how the theory of economic growth is strongly shaped by ideas developed in the past. To this extent the book provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of growth theory and develops important modern themes such as firm-specific research and development and the relationship between growth and international trade. Moreover, several of the chapters explore themes which, in the author's view, have been unfairly neglected in recent writings on the theory of growth. These include the role of demand factors, vintage models and issues of distribution, which he believes can still contribute to the current thinking on growth theory.By balancing insights from old and new theories of economic growth, this comprehensive book should prove fascinating reading for students, researchers and scholars of growth theory.