Obiettivo
The measurement and achievement of sustainable development in Eastern Europe raises a range of particular issues and potential problems. Firstly, the official attitude towards the environment in the past in this region has often been one of short-term exploitation in favour of heavy, polluting industries, and the feasibility of continuing along this path is now seriously in doubt.
At the same time, East European countries are still struggling with the transition to market-based economies, so that efficient policies are essential if the transition is not to be imperilled.
But in mainstream economics, efficient policy design requires knowledge of the appropriate economic values, commonly revealed in market prices, but often needing to be estimated via the range of valuation techniques available.
Thus far, prices have not generally been meaningful indicators of value in East European economies, and the techniques available for valuation might face problems of validity where people are not used to the principle of preference revelation via willingness to pay.
Difficulties are compounded when we consider environmental goods which are often seen as intangible even in developed market economies. Many of these goods - human health, ecosystem services etc - are those which are most relevant to questions of sustainable development. Therefore, this project could well be seen as path-breaking on a number of counts. Firstly, it will address explicitly the issue of sustainable development within an Eastern European context, an issue which has received scant attention so far. Secondly, it will cover environmental goods of special relevance to the participating countries, and to objectives of sustainable development, in particular, human health in Bulgaria, an environmentally and economically important lake in Hungary, and traffic calming in Cracow, Poland. Thirdly, it will examine and implement a number of non--market valuation techniques, thereby gaining knowledge not only of the environmental goods valued, but also of the feasibility and reliability of the techniques in transitionary economies.
The institutions involved in the proposal together possess the necessary expertise to ensure success. As a result, the project will contribute directly to the broader debate on the environment and sustainable development, as well as to the important new question of sustainable development in Eastern Europe.
Argomento(i)
Invito a presentare proposte
Data not availableMeccanismo di finanziamento
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinatore
WC1E 6BT LONDON
Regno Unito