Environment and Economy

Abstract

Public interest in environmental policy formulation is analyzed from a development policy perspective. The objective is to assess the extent to which environmental issues are considered integral to decisions on the economy. Three policy models are considered: neo-classical economic development, socioeconomic development, and ecologically sustainable development. The study is based on data gathered from a content analysis of written testimony to a national public inquiry on development prospects (n = 1,119). Of this testimony, neo-classical and socioeconomic development models are explicitly supported by 26% and 63% of intervenors, respectively. Only 6% of the testimony supports the ecologically sustainable development model. The findings indicate that environmental issues are rarely considered integral to decisions on the economy and that support for genuine integration lies outside the institutional arrangements and decision-making centers of economic and social development.