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Environmental Policies Benefit Economic Development: Implications of Economic Geography

Publication ,  Journal Article
Morgan, S; Pfaff, A; Wolfersberger, J
Published in: Annual Review of Resource Economics
January 1, 2022

For over a century, starting with the work of Alfred Marshall (and also in resource economics), economic geography has emphasized the productivity of dense urban agglomerations. Yet little attention is paid to one key policy implication of economic geography's core mechanisms: Environmental policies can aid economic development, per se¤mdash¤not hurting the economy to help the environment but advancing both objectives. We review mechanisms from economic geography that imply that environmental policies can deliver such win-wins: Influences upon agglomeration of long-standing natural conditions, like usable bays, which long were perceived as fixed yet now are being shifted by global environmental quality; agglomeration's effects on other influential conditions, like urban environmental quality; and the effects of rural environmental quality on the flows to cities of people and environmental quality. Finally, we consider a geographic policy typology in asking why society leaves money on the table by failing to promote environmental policies despite the potential win-wins that we highlight.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Annual Review of Resource Economics

DOI

EISSN

1941-1359

ISSN

1941-1340

Publication Date

January 1, 2022

Volume

14

Start / End Page

427 / 446

Related Subject Headings

  • 3803 Economic theory
  • 3802 Econometrics
  • 3801 Applied economics
 

Citation

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ICMJE
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Morgan, S., Pfaff, A., & Wolfersberger, J. (2022). Environmental Policies Benefit Economic Development: Implications of Economic Geography. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 14, 427–446. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-022804
Morgan, S., A. Pfaff, and J. Wolfersberger. “Environmental Policies Benefit Economic Development: Implications of Economic Geography.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 14 (January 1, 2022): 427–46. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-022804.
Morgan S, Pfaff A, Wolfersberger J. Environmental Policies Benefit Economic Development: Implications of Economic Geography. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 2022 Jan 1;14:427–46.
Morgan, S., et al. “Environmental Policies Benefit Economic Development: Implications of Economic Geography.” Annual Review of Resource Economics, vol. 14, Jan. 2022, pp. 427–46. Scopus, doi:10.1146/annurev-resource-111920-022804.
Morgan S, Pfaff A, Wolfersberger J. Environmental Policies Benefit Economic Development: Implications of Economic Geography. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 2022 Jan 1;14:427–446.

Published In

Annual Review of Resource Economics

DOI

EISSN

1941-1359

ISSN

1941-1340

Publication Date

January 1, 2022

Volume

14

Start / End Page

427 / 446

Related Subject Headings

  • 3803 Economic theory
  • 3802 Econometrics
  • 3801 Applied economics