Splitting an Uncertain (Natural) Capital

Soil “Ecosystem” Services and Natural Capital: Critical Appraisal of Research on Uncertain Ground

Over the last few years, considerable attention has been devoted in the scientific literature and in the media to the concept of “ecosystem” services of soils. The monetary valuation of these services, demanded by many governments and international agencies, is often depicted as a necessary condition for the preservation of the natural capital that soils represent. This focus on soil services i...

Boosting natural capital

Two of the first volumes this year of the Proceedings B of the Royal Society have been dedicated to the issue of sustainable agriculture, signalling researchers’ concerns about the urgent need to address this issue. The editors, Chris Pollock, Jules Pretty, Ian Crute, Chris Leaver and Howard Dalton, highlight issues that continue to fail to impact more widely. And they are blunt in their assess...

In-use product stocks link manufactured capital to natural capital.

In-use stock of a product is the amount of the product in active use. In-use product stocks provide various functions or services on which we rely in our daily work and lives, and the concept of in-use product stock for industrial ecologists is similar to the concept of net manufactured capital stock for economists. This study estimates historical physical in-use stocks of 91 products and 9 pro...

Capital Accumulation and Uncertain Lifetimes with Adverse Selection

Natural Disasters and Human Capital Accumulation

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expresse...