Throughout
much of history, a critical driving force behind global economic
development has been the response of society to the scarcity of key
natural resources. Increasing scarcity raises the cost of exploiting
existing natural resources and creates incentives in all economies to
innovate and conserve more of these resources. However, economies have
also responded to increasing scarcity by obtaining and developing more
of these resources. Since the agricultural transition over 12,000 years
ago, this exploitation of new 'frontiers' has often proved to be a
pivotal human response to natural resource scarcity.
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This
book provides a fascinating account of the contribution that natural
resource exploitation has made to economic development in key eras of
world history. This not only fills an important gap in the literature
on economic history but also shows how we can draw lessons from these
past epochs for attaining sustainable economic development in the world
today. |
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Scarcity and Frontiers
How Economies Have Developed Through Natural Resource Exploitation
by Edward B. Barbier
Cambridge University Press,
2011
Order
a copy
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