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Tracing Sustainability in the Long Run: Genuine Savings Estimates 1850 - 2018

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  • Eoin McLaughlin
  • Cristián Ducoing
  • Les Oxley

Abstract

We introduce a new database of historical Genuine Savings (GS), an indicator of sustainable development promoted by the World Bank and widely used in contemporary economic research. GS derives from the theoretical work on wealth accounting, and addresses shortcomings in conventional metrics of economic development by incorporating broader measures of saving and investment, including human capital (education), and natural resource depletion. Its value as an indicator is determined by its ability to be used to predict future well-being. This article provides consistent historical estimates of GS since 1850 for 25 countries to enhance, complement, and contextualise the work of the World Bank and others.

Suggested Citation

  • Eoin McLaughlin & Cristián Ducoing & Les Oxley, 2023. "Tracing Sustainability in the Long Run: Genuine Savings Estimates 1850 - 2018," NBER Working Papers 31155, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31155
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    JEL classification:

    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

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