Heterogeneity influences the likelihood of collective action for forest management. Theoretical examinations, focusing largely on economic heterogeneity, suggest that heterogeneity increases the likelihood of collective action. Field research however indicates that heterogeneity, whether in...

This paper analyzes the theoretical and empirical links between inequality in human development on the one hand and sustainability on the other. It specifically looks at causality in both directions. Inequality in various dimensions of human development is analyzed with respect to both weak and...

Environmental constraints have always had and will always have important consequences for human development. It has sometimes contributed to or even caused the reversal of such development. The possibility that such constraints will grow significantly throughout this century raises the concern...

Sustainability for a society means long-term viability, but also the ability to cope with economic crises and disasters. Just as with natural disasters, we can minimize the chance of them occurring and set in place policies to protect the world’s citizens against their consequences. This paper...

Mankind must cooperate to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent a catastrophic rise in global temperature, with its concomitant effects on sea level, rainfall, drought, storms, agricultural production, and human migration. What is the appropriate way of evaluating how the costs of...

Since its introduction in the first Human Development Report in 1990, the Human Development Index (HDI) has attracted great interest in policy and academic circles, as well as in the media and national audiences around the world. Its popularity can be attributed to the simplicity of its...

In 2010 the UNDP unveiled a new methodology for the calculation of the Human Development Index (HDI). In this paper I investigate the merits of this change by evaluating the tradeoffs between the core dimensions of wellbeing implied by the index and try to understand the extent to which those...

Africa's economies have weathered the global economic and financial crisis relatively well and have rebounded in 2010. The continent is expected to continue on its path of recovery although serious headwinds weigh on the momentum for expansion in 2011, notably the political events in North...