More Growth or Better Growth?

Abstract

This article is not intended to discuss trade-offs between the environment and new employment through detailing specific statutes, regulations, options, and their results. However, as an initial step in evaluating the balance of economic and environmental needs of a region, it deals with these fundamental underlying issues: (1) that growth, which always produces environmental degradation of some degree, may or may not produce desired employment impacts, and (2) consequently that regions faced with increasing the number of jobs while meeting environmental standards need to analyze alternative-growth scenarios and, to the extent possible, provide selective incentives including tas credits, loans, and financing arrangements to effect desirable alternatives. This latter thesis does not necessarily mean that job-producing, potentially environmentally polluting activities must always be discouraged. It does suggest that such activities should be avoided that do not show promise for creating sufficient numbers of jobs to decrease regional unemployment significantly. This article is concerned with methods for (1) identifying those economic sectors that offer the best prospects for increasing employment, and (2) providing a conceptual basis for comparing economic and environmental trade-offs.