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In a study [6] of the theoretical properties of a model proposed by Stone and Brown [7], Mathur concluded that, in the context of the model, there was a technological upper limit to sustainable growth in the output and final consumption for any individual sector. The upper limit can be derived from the parameters of the model. This paper provides an estimate for this limit for the British economy: most of the parameters used are estimated in a larger model providing projections of the economy in 1972 [1]. The paper is in three parts: section I sets out the model, which is extended to allow for lags between intermediate and capital input and output; section II gives the estimated upper limit to growth, together with checks on the sensitivity of this limit to the degree of aggregation of industrial sectors and the parameters of the model; and section III is a brief appraisal of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents reports of research discussed at recent conferences related to environmental studies. Report that, at a conference on rural environmental engineering held in Warren, Vermont, land treatment of wastewaters was discussed; Report that, at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America held in Los Angeles, California, the understanding and control of noise was the dominant theme; Report that, at a conference on pollution criteria for estuaries held at Southampton University in Southampton, Great Britain, the effects of water pollution on fish and humans were discussed.

This section presents the author's opinion on an article about natural resources constraints to economic growth published in the May 1973 issue of the American Economic Review. The first assumption is that the opposition with which we are concerned is that between economic growth as a purely quantitative concept and natural resources as a constraining factor. This rules out concern with population growth per se, and therefore with living space as a constraint. If population is controlled, as it eventually will be, the living space constraint either disappears or is greatly ameliorated. The second assumption is that the scope of the inquiry must initially be global, not local, regional, or national. Man-made barriers to mobility and trade often block efforts to escape from localized constraints, but, because they are manmade, either they can be removed or their consequences eliminated. It is undoubtedly correct that if we are eventually to be faced with the onset of classical diminishing returns, the absolute rise in real unit costs will be preceded by a relative rise in the cost of extractive outputs, and that this in turn will be a consequence of our inability to develop resource-saving technologies and substitutions. There is reason to hope that a combination of preventive and recycling measures may reduce the flow of negative output sufficiently to prevent the continued buildup of pollution in its many forms, but these measures are not without their costs.

The article discusses issues relating to corporate growth. Firms can grow in a variety of ways including through acquisition and merger, increasing the number of locations at which a particular activity is carried on, and expanding at a single location. When a firm chooses to grow through acquisition and merger the major internal changes occur in top management. Experts say a key prerequisite for rapid economic growth is investment in social overheads. They explain that without such investment particularly in fields such as education, transportation, and housing economic development cannot be sustained.

The article provides information on the development surrounding the advancement of national welfare and health in the U.S. During the 1900's U.S. politicians Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot made conservation a popular crusading idea and an important American ideology. Under Roosevelt administration in 1901, the cause of conservation was advanced in various ways leading to the Governors Conference in May 1908, and the subsequent appointment of the Federal Commission on the Conservation of Natural Resources.

The article announces that Rene Dubos was invited to serve as chairman of the editorial board that will report for the United Nations U.N. Conference. Dubos is a Professor Emeritus at the Rockefeller University. He is an authority in the field of environmental problems. He will lead the board to review the report on the U. N. Conference which will be held on June 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. President Nixon also named Doctor Dubos to the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Environment. As a distinguished scientist, Dubos will also be the chairman of an independent group of consultants.