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Over the last few years, environmental issues have entered into policy design, particularly development and growth policies. Natural resources are considered necessary production inputs and environmental quality is considered a welfare determinant. The integration of environmental issues into economic growth and development theories and empirics is currently widely analyzed in the literature. The effects of natural resources endowment on economic growth are mainly analyzed through the so-called Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) whereas the effects of economic growth on environmental quality are part of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Furthermore, recent contributions on RCH and EKC have shown the important role of institutions and human development dimensions in building a sustainable development path. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the causal relationships between economic growth, human development and sustainability combining the RCH and EKC models and adopting a human development perspective.

Workers’ buyout (WBOs) are emerging during the present economic crisis as an alternative tool to maintain employment and production. In Italy, in the last thirty years, 258 cases have been recorded. What are their general characteristics? Why do WBOs develop and who are the main sponsors and financing tools? The present analysis aims at defining the phenomenon and the enabling environment. Moreover, primary sources collected from different actors will explain how WBOs have developed and thrived across Italy saving jobs and productive capacity.

International audience; Universal access to the commons, such as to clean water, might be seen as a strong challenge to development as freedom. Beyond water scarcity, several regions are already suffering from lack of access, even where water is abundant. Meanwhile, climate change, overpopulation and agricultural demand are severely affecting the quality and availability of water resources. At the global level, concerns about water are tied to the Amazon Region, which contains the greatest potential water stock in the world, and which simultaneously faces the worst troubles in access and supply. This paper is therefore aimed at pointing out the role inclusive social innovations can play in mitigating the impact of growing water shortages and securing effective water use. After a first introduction to Brazil, Amazonas and Parà state statistics on water-related aspects, the research focuses on results emerging from the AguaSociAL project.

International audience; The aim of this paper is to highlight the effect of the endowment of resources on development through the analysis of the impact of national strategy, both at a regional and local level. The research focuses on the Legal Amazon, through the georeferenced analysis of socio-economic data from the last three censuses (1991, 2000 and 2010), in order to demonstrate how the Brazilian national energy strategy is contributing to the perpetuation of the phenomenon of the endowment trap at a regional level. Despite boosting the national growth, the concentration of sector-based projects in resource-abundant areas is unable to eradicate inequalities, which in turn perpetuates the path dependence.

This chapter of the book analyses the problems of renewable and fossil-based energy consumption and focuses on the potential of renewable sources in Morocco. Particular emphasis is put on the promotion of renewable energy technologies. Morocco implements energy efficiency programs in parallel with the Wind promotion plan and Morocco Solar plan, which is one of the largest projects in the world. Morocco has high potential in exploiting wave-wind renewable energy. However, the implementation of the renewable energy faces some obstacles and barriers. The investigation shows that Morocco faces a lack of financing sources and risk implementing small projects, social economic problems, a lack of transparency, and lobbyism. In light ofpublic apathy, acceptance of renewable energy in the community might be a challenge.

The aim of this article is to evaluate the policies carried out by the Government of Ecuador regarding the management of natural resources in the context of the Revolucion Ciudadana, which was designed to create a society based on Buen Vivir. The choice of intensifying the mining sector shows a change in the government’s philosophy (from Sumak Kawsay to neo-extractivism) and requires an analysis that highlights the possible risks outlined by the extensive literature on the Resource Curse Hypothesis. This article analyzes the conditions, which are essential for avoiding the Resource Curse Hypothesis, in order to assess the economic effectiveness of the change of perspective, operated, under the Revolucion Ciudadana.

Over the last few years, environmental issues have entered into policy design, particularly development and growth policies. Natural resources are considered necessary production inputs and environmental quality is considered a welfare determinant. The integration of environmental issues into economic growth and development theories and empirics is currently widely analyzed in the literature. The effects of natural resources endowment on economic growth are mainly analyzed through the so-called Resource Curse Hypothesis (RCH) whereas the effects of economic growth on environmental quality are part of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Furthermore, recent contributions on RCH and EKC have shown the important role of institutions and human development dimensions in building a sustainable development path. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the causal relationships between economic growth, human development and sustainability combining the RCH and EKC models and adopting a human development perspective. Results confirm the importance of high institutional quality and investments for human capital accumulation in order to build a sustainable development path.

In recent years, sustainable development has represented one of the most important policy goals at the global level. How to design specific policy actions and how to measure performance and results continue to present a challenge. The aim of this paper is to identify a numerical measure of ‘sustainable human development’ by enlarging human development with more specific environmental aspects. The sustainability condition has been directly analysed on the well-being side. Building a complex Sustainable Human Development Index may be a hard task because of data availability. European countries represent a useful pilot area for testing the methodology. The key factors of effective sustainable human development are emphasized, comparing a Sustainable Human Development Index with existing traditional indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product and the Human Development Index.