• 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.

Y =

(K, L)

Business Household

Business Household

• Ecological economics movement
• Laws of thermodynamics
• Principles of ecology
Herman Daly

Pollutants
Heat

Pollutants
Heat

Scale Distribution Allocation
(Sustainability) (Justice) (Efficiency)
Daly Martinez-Alier Costanza

• 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

K
Natural capital allocated to economy of nature
Natural capital allocated to human economy

K
To conserve fish and wildlife...
...maintain steady state economy sufficiently below K .
Time

X natural capital allocable
K
U
K
T
Natural capital allocated to economy of nature Natural capital allocated to human economy
Time

X natural capital (still) allocable
K
U
Capital-free growth zone
K
T
2
K
T
1
Natural capital allocated to economy of nature Natural capital allocated to human economy
Time

• 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