Brian Czech

• Why teach ecological economics?

• Three major themes

• Course objectives

• Syllabus

“Natural resources originate from the mind, not the ground, and therefore are not depletable.”

Robert L. Bradley, Jr., 2002

Perfect Storm in Political Economy

• Henry George

• Progress and Poverty, 1879• George vs. land barons

• Incipient tax code at stake

• Establishment of American economics

• The Corruption of Economics

(Gaffney, 1994)

Y = (K, L)

Czech, B. 2009. The neoclassical production function as a relic of anti-George politics: implications for ecological economics. Ecological Economics 68:2193-2197.

• Solow model

• Lucas model

• Romer model

Y = (K, L)

Business Household

Business Household

• Ecological economics movement

• Laws of thermodynamics

• Principles of ecology

Herman Daly

Heat

NaturalCapital

PollutantsNatural

Capital

Heat

NaturalCapital

PollutantsNatural

Capital

Daly CostanzaMartinez-Alier

Scale Distribution

Allocation(Sustainability) (Justice) (Efficiency)

• Provide a historical sketch of economic thought in the post-mercantile world.

• Using examples, describe why the principles of ecology are relevant to economics.

• Identify the laws of thermodynamics and discuss how they affect the development of ecosystems and economies.

• Provide a general description of the scope and philosophy of neoclassical economics.

• Identify the factors of economic production and discuss how their relative importance has evolved in economic theory.

• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of neoclassical economics in terms of its ecological foundations.

• Describe the trophic structure of the human economy.

• Identify the sources of economic growth and discuss the interaction among these sources.

• Describe the status and trends of the factors of production.

• Explain why biodiversity and other natural resources conservation has become a function of macroeconomic policy.

• Identify the goals and most prominent policies of neoclassical and ecological economics.

• Describe the unique political pressures placed upon the economics profession and how these affect theory and policy.

• Describe the economic policies and prominent political aspects of the steady state economy.

• Define the term “political economy” and propose a model of political economy conducive to a sustainable society and uses of natural resources.

• Time of the essence

–For ecological economics instruction

–For us! (Here too, even.)

• Undergrad or Grad (One Course)

• Significant ecology, economics, and

teaching background

Daly, H. E., and J. Farley. 2003. Ecological economics: principles and applications. Island Press, Washington, DC. 450pp.

• 23 chapters

• Strong focus on 3 themes

• Second edition soon

Jackson Czech Victor

• An Introduction to Ecological Economics

• The Containing and Sustaining Ecosystem

• Microeconomics

• Macroeconomics

• International Trade

• Policy

• More historical background

• More principles of ecology

– Trophic levels

– Niche breadth

– Competitive exclusion

• More about technological progress

Time

GD

PK

Natural capital allocated to human economy

Natural capital allocated to economy of nature

K

GD

P

Time

...maintain steady state economy sufficiently below K.

To conserve fish and wildlife...

KT

GD

P

Natural capital allocated to human economy

Natural capital allocated to economy of nature

X natural capital allocable

Time

KU

Capital-free growth zone  KT1

KT2

 

GD

P

Time

KU

Natural capital allocated to human economy

Natural capital allocated to economy of nature

X natural capital (still) allocable

• Remind students of themes.

• Keep discussions focused on textbook.

• Seek optimum participation.

• Allocate more time to material you are

familiar with.

• Do supplement text(s) with ecology.

• CASSE, www.steadystate.org

• International Society for Ecological Economics

• Gund Institute for Ecological Economics

• U.S. Society for Ecological Economics

• Economics for Equity and the Environment, “E3 Network”

• Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts U.

• The Post-Autistic Economics Network

• Bibliography

• Reprints

• Slideshows

• Videos

• Speakers

• News

www.steadystate.org