An Appraisal of Globalization and Sustainable Development for European Countries

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Vaziri, Manouchehr | Rassafi, Amir Abbas

Affiliations: Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran | Faculty of Engineering, International University, Ghazvin, Iran

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: rasafi@yahoo.com

Abstract: The contemporary issues of sustainable development and globalization for a subset of European countries are addressed. The paper evaluates these two issues at the national level when some development specialists argue that there is often a trade-off between them. The study database consisted of last two decades' relevant national indicators extracted from centralized information sources of international agencies. Due to incomplete and missing data, only 22 countries were selected for detailed analysis for the ten-year period of 1985 to 1995. The globalization indicators reflect cross-border flow and exchange of products, people, resources, and information. The sustainable development indicators reflect human and ecosystem well-beings. They consisted of measures reflecting economic, environmental and social development characteristics. The univariate and multivariate statistical analyses of the database showed interesting results and relations between globalization and sustainable development for the period of study. Elasticities of sustainable development indicators with respect to globalization indicators were studied. For some countries, the elasticity appraisal showed sustainable development parallel with globalization. For others, the evaluation did not indicate a promising period. The study confirmed the significance of the globalization and sustainable development balancing challenges of the 21st century.

Journal: Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 147-152, 2006