THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE EARTHS RESOURCES

Economics is the driving force of today's widespread environmental des truction. Markets undervalue the earth's resources and compound their overuse. Since World War II the world has used resources voraciously. The situation can be described as the industrial countries overconsumi ng resources, which are overextracted and exported by developing count ries and traded at prices that are lower than the social costs. Resour ce-intensive patterns of growth and trade are inefficient for the worl d economy, and lead to tragic maldistribution of the Earth's riches. T hey should be replaced by knowledge-intensive patterns of growth. Info rmation technology and the environmental agenda are two of the most im portant trends in the world economy. Together they can lead to growth that is intrinsically compatible with the environment.