Sustainable national income, (SNI) is an indicator for environmental sustainability.
The national income of a country is an estimate of the yearly production of goods and services. The loss of possible uses of the non-human made physical surroundings, named environmental functions, on which humanity is dependent in all its doings remains outside the estimate. Also the present and future production is dependent on these environmental functions. The sustainable national income (SNI) in a given year is an estimate of the production level at which - with the technology in the year of calculation - environmental functions remain available ‘for ever’. Economist Roefie Hueting developed the theoretical and practical framework of the SNI. Already in 1970 he published a collection of articles over the years 1967-1970 titled: “What is nature worth to us?” . In 1974 Hueting obtained a Ph.D. in economics (cum laude) at the University of Groningen with the thesis “New scarcity and economic growth: More welfare through less production?” In 1969 Hueting founded the Department of Environmental Statistics at Statistics Netherlands. A multidisciplinary team of biologists, chemists, physicists, electrical engineers and economists worked for nearly forty years on the SNI and the environmental statistics it is based on.
Read more about Sustainable National Income: Environmental Functions, Definition, Transition To Environmental Sustainability, Estimates, Confusion About The Concept of Sustainability, Reviews
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or income:
“Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievments must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“Some rough political choices lie ahead. Should affirmative action be retained? Should preference be given to people on the basis of income rather than race? Should the system be—and can it be—scrapped altogether?”
—David K. Shipler (b. 1942)