Economic growth and global change

Abstract

The world economy has experienced an astonishing growth, estimated to have increased from about 100 billion dollars of GDP in the first century to more than 33,700 billion at the end of the twentieth century (Maddison 2001). Until recently, the global environmental impacts of this growth seemed extremely limited, even if some large-scale pollution was noted in Antiquity, for example, the atmospheric pollution stemming from the exploitation of copper mines by the Roman Empire (Boutron et al. 1996). Contemporary’s economic growth appears much more problematic and far more challenging for the future of mankind for several reasons. First, during recent decades, environmental damages have increased at a tremendous rate and reached a global scale, such as the case of greenhouse gases emissions. Second, this trend is reinforced by the growing impact of developing countries which were outside the realm of global economic growth. Third, the expansion of the world economy also tends to produce rising inequalities within societies. Finally, these negative impacts have been increasingly questioned since decoupling trends exist between economic growth and increasing well-being.