How Much Have Global Problems Cost the World?
A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050

Bjørn Lomborg invites leading economists to provide an innovative 150-year view of humanity's biggest challenges, measured in economic terms.

Bjørn Lomborg (Edited by)

9781107679337, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 October 2013

401 pages, 172 b/w illus. 118 tables
24.6 x 17.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.8 kg

'This book is a bracing tonic. An excellent survey for students, teachers and the general public with a wealth of thought provoking material. If you want to know how the world is doing, and get hard, comparable numbers to back it up, this is where to go.' Alix Peterson Zwane, Executive Director, Evidence Action and the Deworm the World Initiative, and former Senior Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

There are often blanket claims that the world is facing more problems than ever but there is a lack of empirical data to show where things have deteriorated or in fact improved. In this book, some of the world's leading economists discuss ten problems that have blighted human development, ranging from malnutrition, education, and climate change, to trade barriers and armed conflicts. Costs of the problems are quantified in percent of GDP, giving readers a unique opportunity to understand the development of each problem over the past century and the likely development into the middle of this century, and to compare the size of the challenges. For example: how bad was air pollution in 1900? How has it deteriorated and what about the future? Did climate change cost more than malnutrition in 2010? This pioneering initiative to provide answers to many of these questions will undoubtedly spark debate amongst a wide readership.

Introduction Bjørn Lomborg
Executive summaries
1. Air pollution Guy Hutton
2. Armed conflicts S. Brock Blomberg and Gregory D. Hess
3. Climate change Richard S. J. Tol
4. Ecosystems and biodiversity Anil Markandya and Aline Chiabai
5. Education Harry Anthony Patrinos and George Psacharopoulos
6. Gender inequality Joyce P. Jacobsen
7. Human health Dean T. Jamison, Prabhat Jha, Varun Malhotra and Stéphane Verguet
8. Malnutrition Sue Horton and Richard H. Steckel
9. Trade barriers Kym Anderson
10. Water and sanitation Marc Jeuland, David Fuente, Semra Özdemir, Maura Allaire and Dale Whittington
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental economics [KCN], Economic growth [KCG], Economics [KC], Public administration [JPP]