Including the change in natural capital stock and environmental degradation in Peruvian mining GDP and NNP

Abstract

"This study employs an intertemporal optimization model to adjust the net national product (NNP) and gross domestic product (GDP) of the Peruvian mining sector by incorporating natural capital depreciation, new discoveries, and environmental degradation during the period 1994–2018. The results suggest that NNP has been overestimated, on average, by 172% to 210%, which is attributed to the omission of natural depreciation in the traditional national accounts system. When GDP was corrected, the overestimation fluctuated between 64% and 72%. This underscores the importance of including natural capital depreciation, especially in countries whose economy is highly dependent on extractive industries, as is the case of Peru."