Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/287770 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
Accountancy, Economics, and Finance Working Papers No. 2024-05
Publisher: 
Heriot-Watt University, Department of Accountancy, Economics, and Finance, Edinburgh
Abstract: 
There has been widespread debate about whether the way in which we measure economic activity is fit for purpose in the twenty-first century. One aspect of this debate is to move away from measuring a nation's income (GDP) towards monitoring a nation's assets (their inclusive wealth), as a better indicator of sustainable economic development. We provide the first critical comparison of the approaches of leading international organisations - the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme - to estimating changes in wealth. Our paper reveals important inconsistencies in how these organisations measure sustainability and the conflicting messages that policy makers receive, despite a common underlying conceptual framework linking changes in a nation's wealth to future well-being. At the most extreme, countries that perform the worst according to the UN are shown to perform well according to the World Bank. This confusion in signals makes better policy making more difficult.
Subjects: 
Wealth
Sustainability
Natural Capital
Sustainable Development
JEL: 
Q01
Q32
Q56
N50
N10
O13
O44
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
879.72 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.