Ecological economics
Organizations: Empirical methods Prescriptive and policy Ecological economics, bioeconomics, ecolonomy, eco-economics, or ecol-econ is both a transdisciplinary and an interdisciplinary field of academic research addressing the interdependence and coevolution of human economies and natural ecosystems, both intertemporally and spatially.Issues of intergenerational equity, irreversibility of environmental change, uncertainty of long-term outcomes, and sustainable development guide ecological economic analysis and valuation.In 1880, Marxian economist Sergei Podolinsky attempted to theorize a labor theory of value based on embodied energy; his work was read and critiqued by Marx and Engels.He argued that a market system failed to take into account the needs of future generations, and that a socialist economy required calculation in kind, the tracking of all the different materials, rather than synthesising them into money as a general equivalent.These began in 1982, at the instigation of Lois Banner,[20] with a meeting held in Sweden (including Robert Costanza, Herman Daly, Charles Hall, Bruce Hannon, H.T.In the Marxian tradition, sociologist John Bellamy Foster and CUNY geography professor David Harvey explicitly center ecological concerns in political economy.However, citations analysis has itself proven controversial and similar work has been criticized by Clive Spash for attempting to pre-determine what is regarded as influential in ecological economics through study design and data manipulation.Both of these grassroots movements use communitarian based economies and consciously reduce their ecological footprint by limiting material growth and adapting to regenerative agriculture.This train of thought respects physical bio-limits and non-human species, pursuing equity and social justice through direct democracy and grassroots leadership.Since destruction of important environmental resources could be practically irreversible and catastrophic, ecological economists are inclined to justify cautionary measures based on the precautionary principle.Increasingly the carbon credit for leaving the extremely carbon-intensive ("dirty") bitumen in the ground is also valued – the government of Ecuador set a price of US$350M for an oil lease with the intent of selling it to someone committed to never exercising it at all and instead preserving the rainforest.[40][41][42] Critiques concern the need to create a more meaningful relationship with Nature and the non-human world than evident in the instrumentalism of shallow ecology and the environmental economists commodification of everything external to the market system.In international, regional, and national policy circles, the concept of the green economy grew in popularity as a response to the financial predicament at first then became a vehicle for growth and development.[51] The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines a 'green economy' as one that focuses on the human aspects and natural influences and an economic order that can generate high-salary jobs.In achieving a green economy, competent institutions and governance systems are vital in guaranteeing the efficient execution of strategies, guidelines, campaigns, and programmes.It likewise necessitates new capacities, skills set from labor and professionals who can competently function across sectors, and able to work as effective components within multi-disciplinary teams.The impending depletion of natural resources and increase of climate-changing greenhouse gasses should motivate us to examine how political, economic and social policies can benefit from alternative energy.For instance, photo voltaic (or solar) panels have a 15% efficiency when absorbing the sun's energy, but its construction demand has increased 120% within both commercial and residential properties.There is a continuum of views among economists between the strongly neoclassical positions of Robert Solow and Martin Weitzman, at one extreme and the 'entropy pessimists', notably Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and Herman Daly, at the other.Recently, Stanislav Shmelev developed a new methodology for the assessment of progress at the macro scale based on multi-criteria methods, which allows consideration of different perspectives, including strong and weak sustainability or conservationists vs industrialists and aims to search for a 'middle way' by providing a strong neo-Keynesian economic push without putting excessive pressure on the natural resources, including water or producing emissions, both directly and indirectly.Ecological economists are inclined to acknowledge that much of what is important in human well-being is not analyzable from a strictly economic standpoint and suggests an interdisciplinary approach combining social and natural sciences as a means to address this.When considering surplus energy, ecological economists state this could be used for activities that do not directly contribute to economic productivity but instead enhance societal and environmental well-being.[77] Economics, in principle, assumes that conflict is reduced by agreeing on voluntary contractual relations and prices instead of simply fighting or coercing or tricking others into providing goods or services.US news outlets treated the stories as a "threat"[82] to "drill a park"[83] reflecting a previously dominant view that NGOs and governments had the primary responsibility to protect ecosystems.The holdouts were all English-speaking countries that export GMOs and promote "free trade" agreements that facilitate their own control of the world transport network: The US, UK, Canada and Australia.[90] These arguments are developed further by Hawken, Amory and Hunter Lovins to promote their vision of an environmental capitalist utopia in Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution.[92] Rather than assuming some (new) form of capitalism is the best way forward, an older ecological economic critique questions the very idea of internalizing externalities as providing some corrective to the current system.Drawing upon a transdisciplinary literature, ecological economics roots its policy work in monetary theory and its goals of sustainable scale, just distribution, and efficient allocation.Assigning monetary value to natural resources such as biodiversity, and the emergent ecosystem services is often viewed as a key process in influencing economic practices, policy, and decision-making.Thirdly, conservation programmes for the sake of financial benefit underestimate human ingenuity to invent and replace ecosystem services by artificial means.
Ecological Economics (journal)Environmental economicsCarbon fee and dividendCarrying capacityEcological model of competitionEcosystem servicesEmbodied energyEnergy accountingEntropy pessimismIndex of Sustainable Economic WelfareNatural capitalSpaceship EarthSteady-state economyUneconomic growthSerhiy PodolynskyFrederick SoddyNicholas Georgescu-RoegenKenneth E. BouldingE. F. SchumacherRobert AyresHerman DalyJoan Martinez AlierRichard B. NorgaardRobert CostanzaTim JacksonClive SpashInternational Society for Ecological EconomicsWealth, Virtual Wealth and DebtThe Entropy Law and the Economic ProcessThe Limits to GrowthSmall Is BeautifulProsperity Without GrowthEcological EconomicsDegrowthEco-investingEco-socialismExternalityGreen politicsPlanetary boundariesPost-growthSustainable financeThermodynamicsThermoeconomicsbehavioral sciencesEconomicsOutlineCategorization codesGlossaryEconomistsmethodologyEconomic theoryMathematical modelingGame theoryRational choiceCognitive scienceBehavioralEconomic equilibriumEmpiricalExperimentalNational accountsEconometricsTime seriesSpatialPrescriptiveWelfare analysisSocial choice theoryRational choice theoryCost–benefit analysisBranches and subfieldsAppliedInternationalMainstreamMathematicalMech. designPoliticalIndustrial org.Market designAgricultureBusinessCulturalDemographicDevelopmentEducationEngineeringEnvironmentalEvolutionaryFinancialGeographicHappinessHealthHistoryInformationInstitutionsLabourManagementOrganizationParticipationPersonnelPlanningPolicyPublic sectorPublic choiceSocial choiceRegionalResourcesServiceWelfaretransdisciplinaryinterdisciplinarycoevolutioneconomiesecosystemsmainstream economicschools of economic thoughtsustainabilityphysical (human-made) capitalgreen economicsintergenerational equityirreversibilityuncertaintysustainable developmentcost-benefit analysisnormativepositivefeminist economicsKarl Marx