Ecological economy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Natural resources flow through the economy and end up as waste and pollution

The Ecological Economics or ecological economics is an inter - or transdisciplinary scientific field that deals with the exploration of possibilities for action in the face of ecological limits of sustainability of natural systems. The aim is the scientific foundation of sustainable development taking into account ecological, economic, political and social aspects. The ecological economy is based on a socio-ecological system connection between natural, socio-economic and cultural development.

classification

Approaches to renewing environmental economics that emerged in the 1980s are called ecological economics . “Traditional” environmental economics is essentially based on neoclassical theory and understands environmental problems mainly as an incorrect allocation of resources due to external effects . The ecological economy turns against this purely economic approach and sees itself as transdisciplinary. For example, in German-speaking countries, attempts are being made to also address social conditions within the framework of social-ecological research . The ecological limits of the economy are represented using a closed system. To determine the growth limits, for example, the basic thermodynamic conditions of production and consumption on “ Spaceship Earth ” are considered. Which elements of natural capital can and may be replaced by produced capital on the way to the limits of growth and to what extent is an important field of work in ecological economics.

Methodical classification

The articles published in the journal Ecological Economics cover a broad spectrum of topics, both in terms of content and method, which can only be vaguely delimited from articles within (neo-) classical environmental and resource economics. The tendency is to either question or explicitly negate some of the often uncritically applied axioms or working hypotheses of neoclassics. Examples are

Attempts to combine environmental economics and ecological economics (e.g. sustainable economics , new environmental economics ) appear occasionally in German-speaking countries under different names .

Even if in view of the heterogeneity of the contributions one cannot speak of a uniform understanding of science, ecological economics tends to also tackle complex interrelationships and necessities of sustainable development . In doing so, it necessarily transcends the narrow limits of a disciplinary “ normal science ” to a problem-oriented and interdisciplinary transdisciplinarity . The productive handling of uncertainty and ignorance is at the center of such a “post-normal” science

In the field of macroeconomics , concepts of ecological macroeconomics are developed. The models used differ from the general equilibrium theory ; Post-Keynesian approaches that are modeled with stock-flow consistent models or input-output analyzes are widespread . One research area is the study of growth constraints .

Institutions in Germany

In Germany, the Association for Ecological Economic Research (VÖW) and the Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW) were founded in 1985, and in 1996 the Association for Ecological Economy (VÖÖ). Internationally, the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) and the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) are particularly worth mentioning.

The Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig was the venue for the first ESEE conference in Germany in 2007 and at that time had the largest research team in Germany in ecological economics. At the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg , a chair for ecological economics is held by Bernd Siebenhüner , and the 2010 ISEE conference also took place there.

From 2013 to 2018 the German economist Irene Ring from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ (since 2016 TU Dresden ) was President of ESEE.

See also

Web links

further reading

Magazines

  • Ecological Economics - The Transdisciplinary Journal of the International Society of Ecological Economics. Elsevier, Amsterdam, since 1989; ISSN  0921-8009 .
  • Environmental Policy and Governance (Journal of the European Society for Ecological Economics). Wiley Publishing, Hoboken, since 1991 (originally as European Environment ); ISSN  1756-9338 .
  • Ecological economy . Oekom Verlag, Munich, since 1996; ISSN  1430-8800 .

Books

  • Clive L. Spash (Ed.): Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics: Nature and Society. Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames 2017.
  • Irmi Seidl , Angelika Zahrnt (eds.): Post-growth society: Paths for the future. Ecology and Economic Research, Volume 87. Metropolis, Weimar 2010.
  • Joan Martínez-Alier, Roldan Muradian (Eds.): Handbook of Ecological Economics. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham 2015.
  • Robert Costanza (Ed.): Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability . Columbia University Press, New York 1991.
  • Herman E. Daly : Beyond Growth . Beacon Press, Boston 1996.
  • Robert Costanza: An Introduction to Ecological Economics . St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton FL 1997 (278 pp.).
    • German edition: Thiemo W. Eser (Ed.): Introduction to ecological economics . Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart 2001 (355 pages) [= UTB; 2190].
  • Rainer Marggraf , Sabine Streb: Economic evaluation of the natural environment. Theory, political significance, ethical discussion. Spektrum Akad. Verl., Heidelberg / Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-86025-206-2 . XII, 270 p. Hardcover. .
  • Malte Faber , Reiner Manstetten, John Proobs: Ecological Economics. Concepts and Methods , Edward Elgar, Cheltenham / Northampton 1998.
  • Eva Lang , C. Busch-Lüty , J. Kopfmüller (Eds.): Resubmission urgently: Approaches for an economy of sustainability . Oekom, Munich 2007.
  • Holger Rogall : Ecological Economy. An introduction . Publishing house for social sciences, Wiesbaden 2008

Lexicon article

  • Roman Meinhold Ecological Economics . In: Encyclopedia of Environmental Issues . Salem Press, 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Christiane Busch-Lüty : Challenges of an ecological economy to science . In: Peter Plöger , Eva Lang (ed.): Ecological Economy: A New Science? (PDF) Association for Ecological Economy , Articles and Reports 5/2005, pp. 7–19.
  2. ↑ Herman Daly : Allocation, distribution, and scale: towards an economics that is efficient, just, and sustainable . In: Ecological Economics , Volume 6, Issue 3, December 1992, pp. 185-193.
  3. ↑ Kenneth E. Boulding : The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth . (PDF) In: Henry Jarrett (Ed.): Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy, Essays from the Sixth RFF Forum on Environmental Quality . The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1966. pp. 3-14.
  4. ↑ Kenneth E. Boulding: The economics of the future spaceship earth . Translated by Lexi von Hoffmann. In: Beam us up, Boulding! 40 years of "Spaceship Earth" . (PDF) Association for Ecological Economy - Articles and reports 7/2006. Pp. 9–21.
  5. ↑ Peter Finke : What does “New Science” mean? Ten epistemological theses . In: Peter Plöger , Eva Lang (ed.): Ecological Economy: A New Science? (PDF) Association for Ecological Economy , Articles and Reports 5/2005, pp. 21–37.
  6. ^ Post-normal science in the English language Wikipedia
  7. ^ Armon Rezai, Sigrid Stagl: Ecological macroeconomics: Introduction and review. In: Ecological Economics . Volume 121, January 2016, pp. 181-185, doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2015.12.003 .
  8. ↑ Tim Jackson , Ben Drake, Peter Victor, Kurt Kratena: Foundations for an ecological macroeconomics: Literature review and model development . WWWforEurope Working Paper 65, 2014, hdl : 10419/125724 .
  9. ^ Armon Rezai, Lance Taylor, Reinhard Mechler: Ecological macroeconomics: An application to climate change . In: Ecological Economics . Volume 85, January 2013, pp. 69-76, doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2012.10.008 .
  10. ^ Giuseppe Fontana, Malcolm Sawyer: Towards post-Keynesian ecological macroeconomics . In: Ecological Economics . Volume 121, January 2016, pp. 186-195, doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2015.03.017 .
  11. ↑ Giuseppe Fontana, Malcolm Sawyer: Post-Keynesian and Kaleckian thoughts on ecological macroeconomics . In: Ecological Economics . Volume 10, number 2, September 2013, pp. 256-267, doi : 10.4337 / ejeep.2013.02.09 .
  12. ↑ Lukas Hardt, Daniel W. O'Neill: Ecological Macroeconomic Models: Assessing Current Developments . In: Ecological Economics . Volume 134, April 2017, pp. 198-211, doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2016.12.027
  13. ↑ Frederik Berend Blauwhof: Overcoming accumulation: Is a capitalist steady-state economy possible? In: Ecological Economics . No. 84 , December 2012, p. 254-261 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2012.03.012 .
  14. ↑ Miklós Antal: Green goals and full employment: Are they compatible? In: Ecological Economics . tape 107 , 2014, p. 276-286 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2014.08.014 .
  15. ↑ Tim Jackson , Peter Victor: 'Does credit create a' growth imperative '? A quasi-stationary economy with interest-bearing debt . In: Ecological Economics . tape 120 , December 2015, p. 32-48 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2015.09.009 . Preprint: PASSAGE Working Paper 15/01 . Guildford: University of Surrey.
  16. ↑ Oliver Richters, Andreas Siemoneit: Consistency and Stability Analysis of Models of a Monetary Growth Imperative . In: Ecological Economics . tape 136 , June 2017, p. 114–125 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ecolecon.2017.01.017 . Preprint: VÖÖ Discussion Paper 1, February 2016, hdl : 10419/144750 .
  17. ↑ Natural and social sciences for sustainable development. UFZ press release, June 5, 2007
  18. ^ Department of Ecological Economy at the University of Oldenburg
  19. ↑ ISEE 2010 isecoeco.org, accessed on June 16, 2014.
  20. ↑ official election notice of ESEE , accessed November 27, 2014.