Contributing to a better understanding of contemporary issues of environmental sustainability from a historical perspective, this book provides a cohesive and cogent account of the history of ecological economic thought. The work unearths a diverse set of ideas within a Western and Slavic context, from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment to the late 1940s, to reveal insights firmly grounded in historiographical research and of import for addressing current sustainability challenges, not least by means of improving our grasp on how humans and nature can generously coexist in the long term. The history of ecological economic thought offered in this volume is rich and diverse, encompassing views that are bound by the observance of the tenets of the natural sciences, but which differ significantly in terms of the role of energy and materials to cultural development and the normative aspects involving resource distribution, social ideals, and policy-making. Combining the approaches of independent scholarly figures and scientific communities from different historical periods and nationalities, the book brings elements that are still missing in the scarce literature on the history of ecological economic thought and highlights the underlying threads which unite such initiatives. The book brings a fresh look into the historical development of ecological economic ideas and will therefore be of great interest to scholars and students of ecological economics, environmental economics, sustainability science, interdisciplinary studies, and history of economic thought.
Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen deserves to be called the father of ecological economics. This book connects Georgescu-Roegen's earlier work such as consumer choice theory and a critique of Leontief's dynamic model, with his later ambitious attempt to reformulate the economic process as 'bioeconomics', a theoretical alternative to neoclassical economics.
This book argues that mainstream economics, with its present methodological approach, is limited in its ability to analyze and develop adequate public policy to deal with environmental problems and sustainable development. Each chapter provides major insights into many of today s environmental problems such as global warming and sustainable growth. Building on the strengths and insights of Post Keynesian and ecological economics and incorporating cutting-edge work in economic complexity, bounded rationality and socio-economic dynamics, this book provides an interdisciplinary approach to deal with a broad range of environmental concerns. The contributors show how and where the two traditions share common ground concerning environmental problems and shed light on how the two schools can learn from one another. The book will be of great value to Post Keynesian and ecological economists as well as to those interested in new approaches to important global environmental issues.
In its first edition, this book helped to define the emerging field of ecological economics. This new edition surveys the field today. It incorporates all of the latest research findings and grounds economic inquiry in a more robust understanding of human needs and behavior. Humans and ecological systems, it argues, are inextricably bound together in complex and long-misunderstood ways. According to ecological economists, conventional economics does not reflect adequately the value of essential factors like clean air and water, species diversity, and social and generational equity. By excluding biophysical and social systems from their analyses, many conventional economists have overlooked problems of the increasing scale of human impacts and the inequitable distribution of resources. This introductory-level textbook is designed specifically to address this significant flaw in economic thought. The book describes a relatively new “transdiscipline” that incorporates insights from the biological, physical, and social sciences. It provides students with a foundation in traditional neoclassical economic thought, but places that foundation within an interdisciplinary framework that embraces the linkages among economic growth, environmental degradation, and social inequity. In doing so, it presents a revolutionary way of viewing the world. The second edition of Ecological Economics provides a clear, readable, and easy-to-understand overview of a field of study that continues to grow in importance. It remains the only stand-alone textbook that offers a complete explanation of theory and practice in the discipline.
This clear-thinking collection brings together 25 of Daly s essays, speeches, reviews and testimonials from the past decade. . . as a whole they provide a useful masterclass on the principles of ecological economics. Daly s vision, as well as his frustration with mainstream economists refusal to engage with his arguments, comes through loud and clear. New Scientist It s hard to imagine ecological economics without the numerous and profound contributions of Herman Daly. These papers reveal the consistency of his analysis and clarity of exposition that have made him one of the most influential economists of his generation. Because of Herman Daly we have a much better understanding of how economies relate to the environment, why so much is wrong with this relationship and what must be done to fix it. Peter Victor, York University, Canada This thrilling compilation outlines the origins of the young discipline of ecological economics by the intellectual leader of the movement, Herman Daly. He recounts how, as a member of the recently demoted environment department at the World Bank, he integrated ecology with economics during his six years in the bowels of the beast. Herman lucidly and compellingly combines common sense with profound understanding of both economics and ecology to arrive at sustainable solutions to the global problematique. Herman s rigorous yet compassionate solutions to climate change, peak oil, globalization vs. internationalization, poverty reduction, and the unsung concept of scale leading to uneconomic growth, are precisely what we need to prevent the current liquidation of our beautiful world. This book will galvanize you into the action we need so much. Robert Goodland, Environmental adviser, World Bank Group, 1978 2001 In this book, written in crystal clear style, Herman Daly reiterates the main points of his analysis and vision, he praises some teachers (John Ruskin, Frederick Soddy, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Kenneth Boulding), he fearlessly attacks some adversaries in the World Bank and MIT, and he offers some advice to the government of his own country, to the Russian Duma, and especially to OPEC that, if followed, would change the world very much for the better. Finally, on a different line of thought, he interrogates conservation biologists on their reasons for wanting to keep biodiversity since, as biologists, they claim that evolution has no particular purpose. Why not let the Sixth Great Extinction run its course? In other words, science cannot provide an ethics of conservation, which Herman Daly finds in religion more than in democratization deliberations. Joan Martinez-Alier, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, Spain Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development comprises a carefully chosen selection of some 25 articles, speeches, congressional testimonies, reviews, and critiques from the last ten years of Herman Daly s ever-illuminating work. This book seeks to identify the blind spots and errors in standard growth economics, alongside the corrections that ecological economics offers to better guide us toward a sustainable economy one with deeper biophysical and ethical roots. Under the general heading of sustainability and ecological economics, many specific topics are here brought into relation with each other. These include: limits to growth; full-world versus empty-world economics; uneconomic growth; definitions of sustainability; peak oil; steady-state economics; allocation versus distribution versus scale issues; non-enclosure of rival goods and enclosure of non-rival goods; production functions and the laws of thermodynamics; OPEC and Kyoto; involuntary resettlement and development; resource versus value-added taxation; globalization versus internationalization; immigration; climate change; and the philosophical presuppositions of policy, including the policies suggested in connection with the topics above. This fascinating work will appeal to scholars and academics of ecol
Taking as its starting point the interdependence of the economy and the natural environment, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field of ecological economics. The authors, who have written extensively on the economics of sustainability, build on insights from both mainstream economics and ecological sciences. Part I explores the interdependence of the modern economy and its environment, while Part II focuses mainly on the economy and on economics. Part III looks at how national governments set policy targets and the instruments used to pursue those targets. Part IV examines international trade and institutions, and two major global threats to sustainability - climate change and biodiversity loss. Assuming no prior knowledge of economics, this textbook is well suited for use on interdisciplinary environmental science and management courses. It has extensive student-friendly features including discussion questions and exercises, keyword highlighting, real-world illustrations, further reading and website addresses.
This multidisciplinary book provides new insights and hope for sustainable prosperity given recent developments in economics – but only if swift and strong actions consistent with Earth’s biophysical limits and principles of justice are universally taken. It is one thing to put limits on resource throughput and waste generation to conform with the ecosphere’s biocapacity. It is another thing to efficiently allocate a sustainable rate of resource throughput and ensure it is equitably distributed in the form of final goods and services. While the separate but interdependent decisions regarding throughput, distribution, and allocation are the essence of ecological economics, dealing with them in a world that needs to cure its growth addiction requires a realistic understanding of macroeconomics and the fiscal capacity of currency-issuing central governments. Sustainable prosperity demands that we harness this understanding to carefully regulate the rate of resource throughput and manipulate macroeconomic outcomes to facilitate human flourishing. The book begins by outlining humanity’s current predicament of gross ecological overshoot and laments the half-century of missed opportunities since The Limits to Growth (1972). What was once economic growth has become, in many high-income countries, uneconomic growth (additional costs exceeding additional benefits), which is no longer advancing wellbeing. Meanwhile, low-income nations need a dose of efficient and equitable growth to escape poverty while protecting their environments and the global commons. The book argues for a synthesis of our increasing knowledge of the ecosphere’s limited carrying capacity and the power of governments to harness, transform, and distribute resources for the common good. Central to this synthesis must be a correct understanding of the difference between financial constraints and real resource constraints. While the latter apply to everyone, the former do not apply to currency-issuing central governments, which have much more capacity for corrective action than mainstream thinking perceives. The book joins the growing chorus of authoritative voices calling for a complete overhaul of the dominant economic system. We conclude with policy recommendations based on a new economics that, if implemented, would come close to guaranteeing a sustainable and prosperous future. Upon reading this book, at least one thing should be crystal clear: business as usual is not a viable option.
This book provides learning materials which are grounded in the experience of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), with case studies chosen by CSOs and developed collaboratively with leading ecological economists.
Ecological economics is a new transdisciplinary approach to understanding and managing the ecology and economics of our world for sustainability on local, regional, and global scales. The previous isolation of these two fields has led to economic and environmental policies that have been mutually destructive rather than reinforcing in the long term. This book brings together these two disciplines in chapters covering the basic worldview of ecological economics; accounting, modeling, and analysis of ecological economicl systems; and necessary institutional changes and case studies.
