How well does the Genuine Savings Rate macroeconomic indicator perform as a measure of overall sustainability?

This article shows how macroeconomic indicators of sustainable development can be applied to the Queensland economy. While recognising the complex and contentious theoretical and practical issues in deriving the Genuine Savings Rate (GSR) to serve as such an indicator, we use the World Bank's methodology, which includes only mineral depletion, deforestation and carbon dioxide emissions as environmental terms, to estimate GSRs for Queensland for the period 1989 to 1999, and compare these to World Bank estimates of Australia's GSR for the same period. We find that Queensland has a higher rate of natural resource depletion and a lower GSR than the whole of Australia. We also examine how well the World Bank GSR performs as a 'headline' measure of overall sustainability, review criticisms of the GSR, and compare its implicit policy implications with those of net state savings, and of the GSR plus a suite of other indicators.

Genuine Savings (GS) has emerged as the leading economic indicator of sustainable economic development at the country level. It derives from the literatures on weak sustainability, wealth accounting and national income accounting. We discuss the theoretical underpinnings of GS, focusing on the relationship between changes in a nation's extended capital stock and the future path of consumption. The indicator has entered widespread use propelled by the World Bank's publications, despite its varying performance as a predictor for future consumption. Notwithstanding the extensive body of literature reviewed, promising future research avenues are identified.

This volume is part of a recently completed research project at the World Bank that reviewed the macroeconomic experience of 18 developing countries from the mid-1960s. The period encompassed two oil shocks, two world recessions, a sharp rise in world interest rates, the debt crisis, and changes in exchange rate regimes. In this context, Colombia provides an almost unparalleled example of steady long-term economic growth despite external shocks, political crises, civil strife, reliance on a single, dominant commodity (coffee), and the rising importance of illicit drugs in the economy. Courting Turmoil and Deferring Prosperity looks at how Colombia managed to avoid major prolonged economic crises against all odds. Its economy has confronted several external and internal shocks from the mid-1960s, mainly due to the country's reliance on exports of coffee, the price volatility of which can greatly affect the economy. The period also witnessed major policy changes, including a long-term shift from an essentially inward-oriented development strategy, based on industrialization through import substitution, to an outward-oriented, export-led strategy. The authors' analysis differs from most existing literature on the Colombian economy in two important ways: it evaluates policy responses to shocks in terms of their success in achieving short-run stabilization, as well as their impact on long-run growth; and it explores the intimate links between economic policies and the specific political and social ideologies, institutions, and structures in Colombia that have historically conditioned government policymaking. The report also highlights the role of prudent macroeconomic policies for crisis avoidance and analyzes the links between fiscal policy, trade policy, and exchange rates.

In this collection of critical surveys the reader is provided with a range of up-to-date work from some of the leading scholars in the area, writing on private and public sector aspects of savings and wealth accumulation. A survey of savings and wealth accumulation which are important dimensions of research and policy debates Discusses the measurement of genuine savings and sustainability, the estimation of wealth inequality, and recent developments in consumer credit and defaults Evaluates the impact of student loans on financial well-being, people’s retirement decisions, and the impact of pension reform Considers the distribution of wealth across generations and the importance of accurately measuring government debt, the rise of sovereign wealth funds and Islamic banking and finance

Demonstrates how various indicators can be developed and used by macroeconomists to determine whether or not economic development programs and policies are on a path of environmental sustainability. Among them are the physical indicators, resource and environmental accounting, savings and empirical measurement, ecological indicators, income distribution and social needs, and the assessment of structural adjustment policies. Concludes that the most crucial element is a greater awareness of the effects and possible effects economic development has on the environment and human well being. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR