Book Description Contents
Book Description

The emergent discipline of ecological economics is based on the idea that the world's economies are a function of the earth's ecosystems -- an idea that radically reverses the world view of neoclassical economics. A Survey of Ecological Economics provides the first overview of this new field, and a comprehensive and systematic survey of its critical literature.

The editors of the volume summarize ninety-five seminal articles, selected through an exhaustive survey, that advance the field of ecological economics and represent the best thinking to date in the area. Each two- to three-page summary is far more comprehensive than a typical abstract, and presents both the topics covered in each paper and the most important arguments made about each topic. Sections cover:

  • historical perspective
  • definition, scope, and interdisciplinary issues
  • theoretical frameworks and techniques
  • energy and resource flow analysis
  • accounting and evaluation
  • North-South/international issues
  • ethical/social/institutional issues
Each section is preceded by an introductory essay that outlines the current state of knowledge in the field and proposes a research agenda for the future.

A Survey of Ecological Economics is the first volume in the Frontier Issues in Economic Thought series produced by the Global Development And Environment Institute at Tufts University.

Contents

Authors Of Original Articles
Series Introduction
Preface
Note To The Reader

PART 1. Historical Perspectives
-Overview Essay
-Summary Of Historical Roots For Ecological Economics''"biophysical Versus Allocative Approaches
-Summary Of The Teleological View Of Wealth: A Historical Perspective
-Summary Of The Convergence Of Neo-ricardian And Embodied Energy Theories Of Value And Price
-Summary Of Energy And Energetics In Economic Theory: A Review Essay
-Summary Of Introduction To Ecological Economics: Energy, Environment And Society
-Summary Of The History Of The Future
-Summary Of Biophysical And Marxist Economics: Learning From Each Other
-Summary Of Biophysical Economics: Historical Perspective And Current Research Trends
-Summary Of World Environmental History And Economic Development
-Summary Of The Historical Roots Of Our Ecologic Crisis
-Summary Of The Case That The World Has Reached Limits
-Summary Of One Part Wisdom: The Great Debate
-Summary Of Environmental Significance Of Development Theory

PART II. Definition, Scope, And Interdisciplinary Issues
-Overview Essay
-Summary Of Toward An Ecological Economics
-Summary Of Foundations Of An Ecological Economics
-Summary Of The Case For Methodological Pluralism
-Summary Of Economics And Ecology: A Comparison Of Experimental Methodologies And Philosophies
-Summary Of Interdisciplinary Research Between Economists And Physical Scientists: Retrospect And Prospect
-Summary Of Rethinking Ecological And Economic Education: A Gestalt Shift
-Summary Of Industrial Ecology: Reflections On A Colloquium
-Summary Of Sustainable Development: A Co-evolutionary View
-Summary Of Sustainable Development: A Critical Review
-Summary Of Recovering The Real Meaning Of Sustainability
-Summary Of The Difficulty In Defining Sustainability
-Summary Of Sustainable Development: What Is To Be Done?
-Summary Of The Concept Of Sustainability: Origins, Extensions, And Usefulness For Policy

PART III. Theoretical Frameworks And Techniques
-Overview Essay
-Summary Of On The Ideological Foundations Of Environmental Policy
-Summary Of Towards An Ecological Economics Of Sustainability
-Summary Of Alternative Approaches To Economic''"environmental Interactions
-Summary Of Introduction To The Steady-state Economy
-Summary Of Allocation, Distribution, And Scale: Towards An Economics That Is Efficient, Just, And Sustainable
-Summary Of The Economic Growth Debate: What Some Economists Have Learned But Many Have Not
-Summary Of The Economics Of The Coming Spaceship Earth
-Summary Of Steady-state Economies And The Command Economy
-Summary Of Allocation, Distribution, And Scale As Determinants Of Environmental Degradation: Case Studies Of Haiti, -El Salvador, And Costa Rica
-Summary Of On Economics As A Life Science
-Summary Of The Entropy Law And The Economic Process In Retrospect
-Summary Of Thermodynamic And Economic Concepts As Related To Resource-use Policies
-Summary Of Thermodynamic And Economic Concepts As Related To Resource-use Policies: Comment And Reply
-Summary Of Economics, Ethics, And The Environment
-Summary Of Neoclassical And Institutional Approaches To Development And The Environment
-Summary Of Economics As Mechanics And The Demise Of Biological Diversity
-Summary Of Reserved Rationality And The Precautionary Principle: Technological Change, Time, And Uncertainty In Environmental Decision Making
-Summary Of Conservation Reconsidered
-Summary Of The Human Firm In The Natural Environment: A Socio-economic Analysis Of Its Behavior

PART IV. Energy And Resource Flow Analysis
-Overview Essay
-Summary Of The Entropy Law And The Economic Problem
-Summary Of Selections From ''energy And Economic Myths''
-Summary Of Consumption, Production, And Technological Progress: A Unified Entropic Approach
-Summary Of Is The Entropy Law Relevant To The Economics Of Natural Resource Scarcity?
-Summary Of Is The Entropy Law Relevant To The Economics Of Natural Resource Scarcity?: Comment
-Summary Of Is The Entropy Law Relevant To The Economics Of Natural Resource Scarcity?''"yes, Of Course It Is!
-Summary Of Recycling, Thermodynamics, And Environmental Thrift
-Summary Of Thermodynamics And Economics
-Summary Of Energy Costs: A Review Of Methods
-Summary Of Energy And Money
-Summary Of Embodied Energy And Economic Valuation
-Summary Of Energy And The U.s. Economy: A Biophysical Perspective
-Summary Of Natural Resource Scarcity And Economic Growth Revisited: Economic And Biophysical Perspectives
-Summary Of The Biophysical Systems World View
-Summary Of Energy, Labor, And The Conserver Society
-Summary Of Industrial Metabolism
-Summary Of Industrial Input''"output Analysis: Implications For Industrial Ecology
-Summary Of Implementing Industrial Ecology

PART V. Accounting And Evaluation
-Overview Essay - By Jonathan M. Harris
-Summary Of Environmental And Resource Accounting: An Overview
-Summary Of Three Dilemmas Of Environmental Accounting
-Summary Of Correcting National Income For Environmental Losses: A Practical Solution For A Theoretical Dilemma
-Summary Of Gnp And Market Prices: Wrong Signals For Sustainable Economic Success That Mask Environmental Destruction
-Summary Of A Survey Of Resource And Environmental Accounting In Industrialized Countries
-Summary Of Toward An Exact Human Ecology
-Summary Of Energy Analysis And Economic Valuation
-Summary Of Integrated Environmental''"economic Accounting, Natural Resource Accounts, And Natural Resource Management In Africa
-Summary Of Development, The Environment, And The Social Rate Of Discount
-Summary Of Economic Indicators Of Resource Scarcity: A Critical Essay
-Summary Of Valuing Environmental Damage
-Summary Of Some Problems With Environmental Economics
-Summary Of The Worth Of A Songbird: Ecological Economics As A Post-normal Science

PART VI. International Economic Relations, Development, And The Environment
-Overview Essay
-Summary Of Ten Reasons Why Northern Income Growth Is Not The Solution To Southern Poverty
-Summary Of International Assistance: A Problem Posing As A Solution
-Summary Of The Case For Free Trade
-Summary Of The Perils Of Free Trade
-Summary Of Trading Off The Future: Making World Trade Environmentally Sustainable
-Summary Of Development, Poverty And The Growth Of The Green Movement In India
-Summary Of Third World Development And Population
-Summary Of Radical American Environmentalism And Wilderness Preservation: A Third World Critique
-Summary Of Environmental Change And Violent Conflict
-Summary Of Introduction''"global Commons: Site Of Peril, Source Of Hope

PART VII. Ethical And Institutional Issues In Ecological Economics
-Overview Essay
-Summary Of Intergenerational Justice As Opportunity
-Summary Of Introduction: The Ethics Of Sustainable Development
-Summary Of The Age Of Plenty: A Christian View
-Summary Of The Search For An Environmental Ethic
-Summary Of Should Trees Have Standing?''"toward Legal Rights For Natural Objects
-Summary Of Legal Rights For Nature: The Wrong Answer To The Right(s) Question
-Summary Of Intergenerational Justice In Energy Policy
-Summary Of Sustainable Rural Development In Latin America: Building From The Bottom Up
-Summary O