Sustainable Welfare in the Asia-Pacific

Studies Using the Genuine Progress Indicator

Advances in Ecological Economics series

Edited by Philip Lawn, Flinders University and Matthew Clarke, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Researcher Development and Alfred Deakin Professor, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Frequent references are made to the ‘Asian economic miracle’ as a means of describing the wave of GDP growth experienced across the Asia-Pacific region over the past twenty years. Implicit in this description is the assumption that the Asia-Pacific region has progressed at the same rate that GDP has risen over the same period. But is this truly the case? Employing a Genuine Progress Indicator as an alternative measure of sustainable welfare, the contributors to this book aim to answer this question by presenting case studies of seven Asia-Pacific nations. The results reveal that all is not as positive as conventional indicators might suggest.

的草坪和克拉克编译authored an excellent addition to the literature of ecological economics. . . this is an excellent resource for advanced students, academics and practitioners wishing to galvanise an understanding of the measurement of human progress.’
– Lindsay Greer, FORUM – Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights

‘. . . I think the authors should be commended for attempting to develop a summary measure that brings together a diverse range of indicators relevant to human well-being.’
– Winton Bates, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature

‘It is no small thing to shift the burden of proof. Yet that is what Lawn and Clarke, and their colleagues, have done in this remarkable study. . . Thanks to Lawn and Clarke for suggesting many specific policies rooted in a clear analysis. . .’
– From the preface by Herman Daly