In this paper targets, institutions and policy measures for describing and implementing sustainable development are evaluated in terms of their conformity with the economic framework of a market system. Firstly, from the viewpoint of neo-liberal economic thinking as conceived by the German...

Ideally a new reform of the EU trade regime for bananas (COMB) should be equipped in a way that it makes a long-term contribution to the realisation of sustainable goals, or at least does not prevent them. From a point of view of sustainable development, a trade restriction measure has to...

The paper surveys economic aspects of sustainability and the use of complex ecological systems. In a first step, an economist's view of the concept of sustainability is presented. Then, a simple model of the economic use of a dynamic ecological system is discussed. It is shown how economically...

This article sheds light onto the tangibility of the intangibles, arguing that environment, social and governance sustainability ("ESG"), typically considered as intangibles, can be explained by tangible factors such as banks' fundamentals, country ESG performance, macroeconomic factors and...

Development agencies and actors concerned with promoting sustainable development have been joined in recent years by another player - big business. Increasing adherence on the part of senior managers to concepts like corporate citizenship or corporate social responsibility suggests that this...

The COP-21 meeting in Paris produced an important result. For the first time all countries developed and developing agreed to take some mitigation action. However even if all countries deliver on what they have promised by 2030 and progress thereafter continues only at the same rate global...

The last 25 years have witnessed a rapid increase in regional trade agreements (RTAs). Although RTAs generally aim at lowering tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, an increasing number of trade agreements extend their scope to cover specific policy areas such as environmental protection and...

This paper synthesizes the evidence of a negative correlation between income inequality and environmental quality. It shows that inequality exerts adverse impact on environmental outcomes through several channels, including the household, community, national, and international channels. These...