Historical wealth accounts for Britain: Progress and puzzles in measuring the sustainability of economic growth

Eoin McLaughlin; Nick Hanley; David Greasley; Jan Kunnas; Les Oxley; Paul Warde

doi:10.1093/oxrep/gru002

Historical wealth accounts for Britain: Progress and puzzles in measuring the sustainability of economic growth

Eoin McLaughlin, Nick Hanley, David Greasley, Jan Kunnas, Les Oxley, Paul Warde

School of History, Classics and Archaeology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Estimates of Britain’s comprehensive wealth are reported for the period 1760–2000. They include measures of produced, natural, and human capital, and illustrate the changing composition of Britain’s assets over this time period. We show how genuine savings, GS (a year-on-year measure of the change in total capital and a claimed indicator of sustainable development) has evolved over time. Changes in total wealth are compared to alternative, investment-based measures of GS, including variants augmented with the value of exogenous technology. Additionally, the possible effects of population change on wealth, and the implications of including carbon-dioxide emissions in natural capital are considered.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	44-69
Journal	Oxford Review of Economic Policy
Volume	30
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/gru002
Publication status	Published - 2014

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

comprehensive wealth
genuine savings
sustainability
British economic history

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10.1093/oxrep/gru002

http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/1/44.full

Cite this

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title = "Historical wealth accounts for Britain: Progress and puzzles in measuring the sustainability of economic growth",

abstract = "Estimates of Britain{\textquoteright}s comprehensive wealth are reported for the period 1760–2000. They include measures of produced, natural, and human capital, and illustrate the changing composition of Britain{\textquoteright}s assets over this time period. We show how genuine savings, GS (a year-on-year measure of the change in total capital and a claimed indicator of sustainable development) has evolved over time. Changes in total wealth are compared to alternative, investment-based measures of GS, including variants augmented with the value of exogenous technology. Additionally, the possible effects of population change on wealth, and the implications of including carbon-dioxide emissions in natural capital are considered.",

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TY - JOUR

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T2 - Progress and puzzles in measuring the sustainability of economic growth

AU - McLaughlin, Eoin

AU - Hanley, Nick

AU - Greasley, David

AU - Kunnas, Jan

AU - Oxley, Les

AU - Warde, Paul

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - Estimates of Britain’s comprehensive wealth are reported for the period 1760–2000. They include measures of produced, natural, and human capital, and illustrate the changing composition of Britain’s assets over this time period. We show how genuine savings, GS (a year-on-year measure of the change in total capital and a claimed indicator of sustainable development) has evolved over time. Changes in total wealth are compared to alternative, investment-based measures of GS, including variants augmented with the value of exogenous technology. Additionally, the possible effects of population change on wealth, and the implications of including carbon-dioxide emissions in natural capital are considered.

AB - Estimates of Britain’s comprehensive wealth are reported for the period 1760–2000. They include measures of produced, natural, and human capital, and illustrate the changing composition of Britain’s assets over this time period. We show how genuine savings, GS (a year-on-year measure of the change in total capital and a claimed indicator of sustainable development) has evolved over time. Changes in total wealth are compared to alternative, investment-based measures of GS, including variants augmented with the value of exogenous technology. Additionally, the possible effects of population change on wealth, and the implications of including carbon-dioxide emissions in natural capital are considered.

KW - comprehensive wealth

KW - genuine savings

KW - sustainability

KW - British economic history

U2 - 10.1093/oxrep/gru002

DO - 10.1093/oxrep/gru002

M3 - Article

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VL - 30

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EP - 69

JO - Oxford Review of Economic Policy

JF - Oxford Review of Economic Policy

IS - 1

ER -

Historical wealth accounts for Britain: Progress and puzzles in measuring the sustainability of economic growth

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Cite this