Chapter 23: Ecological Economics

1. Chapter 23: Ecological Economics

2. 23.1 Economic Worldviews • Can development be sustainable? • Our definitions of resources shape how we use them • Classical economics examines supply and demand • Neoclassical economics emphasizes growth • Ecological economics incorporates principles of ecology • Communal property resources are a classic problem in ecological economics

3. Freedom and Growth • 1200-1500 Growth in European internal markets • 1500-1900 Territorial Expansion • 1700-2000 Scientific and Technological Expansion • Everyone gets a Bigger Slice • Can Freedom Exist in a Zero-Sum World?

4. The Laffer Curve

5. 23.2 Population, Technology, And Scarcity • Scarcity can lead to innovation • Carrying capacity is not necessarily fixed • Economic models compare growth scenarios • Why not conserve resources?

6. 23.3 Natural Resource Accounting • Gross National (Domestic) product is our dominant growth measure • Alternate measures account for well-being • New approaches incorporate nonmarket values • Nonmarket values can’t be spent in the marketplace • Cost-benefit analysis aims to optimize resource use

7. 23.4 Market Mechanisms Can Reduce Pollution • Using market forces • Is emissions trading the answer? • Sulfur trading offers a good model • Carbon trading is already at work

8. 23.5 Trade, Development, and Jobs • International trade brings benefits but also intensifies inequities • NAFTA • Aid often doesn’t help the people who need it • Theft, Misappropriation • Inefficiency and Bureaucracy • Ethnic, Religious and Class Rivalry • Microlendinghelps the poorest of the poor

9. 23.6 Green Business • New business models follow concepts of ecology • Efficiency starts with design of products and processes • Green consumerism gives the public a voice • Environmental protection creates jobs • Personally Responsible Consumerism