REGIONAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (GLOBAL ECONOMY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, OPEN ECONOMY, CLOSED ECONOMY)

The objective of this dissertation is the development of a set of general guidelines for regional sustainable development along with an analysis of the relationship between regional and global sustainable development. These guidelines are then applied to four case studies.;The global economy is a closed economy ("Spaceship earth"), functioning within a fixed-endowment environment, except for solar energy. In contrast, regional economies are open economies. They are not limited to their original endowment, but can import and export commodities, goods, and services. How does sustainable development differ at the regional and global levels?;This paper addresses this question by first reviewing essential concepts of global, (closed economy) sustainable development. Two broad classes of services that the environment provides to the economy are analyzed: basic life-support services and economic services. The topic of environmental limits to economic activity is also treated empirically with a brief review of the state of the world 1995.;How should humans treat the environment to attain sustainable development in a closed economy? After a cursory review of the environmental record of socialist economies and a more extensive review of the environmental record of the United States which serves as the example of capitalist economies, rules are formulated for the sustainable use of renewable and nonrenewable resources, including environmental amenities. The issue of the substitutability of man-made capital for natural capital is analyzed in depth including specifics. The policy indicated by the analysis is: maintain constant natural capital--"strong" sustainability.;The rules developed for the closed global economy are then re-evaluated in light of the open nature of the regional economy, and guidelines for regional sustainable development are formulated. These guidelines are applied to four applications of regional sustainable development: two subnational regions, Seattle and Virginia; and two nations, the Netherlands and New Zealand.