Environmental Impacts of Macroeconomic and Sectoral Policies

Eleven papers are presented from a session at the 1994 biannual meeting of the International Society of Ecological Economics in San Jose, Costa Rica. The papers examine the ecological and social impacts of structural adjustment programmes and other macroeconomic policies in an integrated way. From an ex ante viewpoint the papers begin to consider the fully integrated, ecological, economic and social system in the initial design of development policies. This broader ecological economic approach necessarily involves transdisciplinary cooperation that, while difficult, is increasingly being recognised as essential. Due to the complexity of policy-environment interactions, the book takes an empirical, case-study oriented approach, including thorough reviews of current work both within and outside the Bank. Specific case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America underscore the difficulties of developing a general methodology to trace the environmental impacts of policy reform, yet offer evidence that empirical work may help identify and deal with the most important potential environmental impacts.