The World Economy, Population Growth, and the Global Ecosystem (PDF)

HARLAND WM. WHITMORE, JR. is currently Professor of Economics at the University of Cincinnati, USA. He has published several books in open economy macroeconomics, including Aggregate Economic Choice (1986), World Economy Macroeconomics (1997) and Global Environmental Economics (1999). For the last several years, he has also consulted with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, working on the integration of the macroeconomy with an ecological system. One outcome of this effort was the publication of a report Integration of an Economy under Imperfect Competition with a Twelve-Cell Ecological Model (EPA/600/R-06/046, July 2006).

'Finally, an economics text that begins with 'The Global Ecosystem'. This book is an ambitious attempt to develop a truly integrated analysis of the economy, society, and the natural world.' - John M. Gowdy, Rittenhouse Professor of Humanities and Social Science, Department of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA

'In a challenging and innovative study, Whitmore analyzes the interactions between the world's economic development and the functioning of our ecosystems, leading to insights that require a rewrite of most macroeconomic textbooks that tend to ignore these issues. This book challenges traditional macroeconomics by focusing on the vital relations between economics, natural resources and ecology.' - Ekko van Ierland, Professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

'Harland Whitmore combines the skills of an economic modeler with an awareness of market imperfections and environmental constraints. His global model provides a central role for natural resources and waste flows into the environment, as well as for disequilibrium, unemployment, imperfect information, and unintended savings or investment. He takes 'green accounting' seriously, and focuses on the importance of government policy for environmental protection, production and employment. This book goes beyond the limitations of most standard economic models to offer a new perspective on ecological macroeconomics.' - Jonathan Harris, Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, USA