Economic growth as we know it today cannot persist indefinitely if it entails continuous degradation of natural resources and the environment. While in a few countries around the world it appears that environmental degradation has been the result of rapid economic growth, in the vast majority of the developing countries the environment has been equally spoiled despite slow or even negative economic growth.
This book provides new insights on the common roots of economic stagnation, poverty and environmental degradation which, unfortunately, generally reside in misguided government policies and priorities. By doing this, the volume seeks to provide a broader policy option framework than those found in conventional policy analyses, mainly dominated by the "Washington Consensus". It shows that a major omission of the conventional view is that governments tend to allocate government expenditures in a biased way favouring subsidies to the economic elites to the detriment of investments in public goods, including human capital, R&D, as well as the development of institutions (environmental and otherwise), which are vital for long run growth, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

Ramón López is a Professor of Economics at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland at College Park. He is also a Senior Fellow at the University of Bonn (ZEF) and Chair of the Publication Review Committee at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. Professor López is the author or co-author of several books on economic growth, rural poverty and the environment and has held various editorial responsibilities in several important journals.
Michael A. Toman is an adjunct faculty member in the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC; and in the Bren School of the Environment, University of California, Santa Barbara. He also works as a senior environmental economist in a multilateral economic development organization. He is the (co) author and (co) editor of several books on the economics of energy, environmental protection, climate change, and sustainable development.