TY  - JOUR
AU  - Brock,William A.
AU  - Taylor,M. Scott
TI  - The Kindergarten Rule of Sustainable Growth
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9597
PY  - 2003
Y2  - April 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9597
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9597.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
William Brock
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin
1180 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI   537061393
E-Mail: wbrock@ssc.wisc.edu

M. Scott Taylor
IEE Canada Research Chair
Department of Economics
The University of Calgary
2500 University Drive, N.W.
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
CANADA
Tel: 403/220-8912
Fax: 403/282-5262
E-Mail: mstaylor@ucalgary.ca
AB  - The relationship between economic growth and the environment is not well understood: we have only limited understanding of the basic science involved and very limited data. Because of these difficulties it is especially important to develop a series of relatively simple theoretical models that generate stark predictions. This paper presents one such model where societies implement  the Kindergarten rule of sustainable growth.' Following the Kindergarten rule means implementing zero emission technologies in either finite time or asymptotically. The underlying simplicity of the model allows us to provide new predictions linking the path of environmental quality to pollutant characteristics (stocks vs. flows; toxics vs. irritants) and primitives of the economic system. It also provides a novel Environmental Catch-up Hypothesis.
ER  -