HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS
• A reminder that Sheila Malcolmson will be
presenting on policy for sustainability in this
room at 2:30 today.
• Today, Amy and Kyle will be presenting on
Chapter 7 and the ‘whole economy.’
• Following that, we will do a review for the midterm on Thursday.
MID-TERM REVIEW (CONCEPTS COVERED IN WEEK 1)
• Definition of Geography: “it describes and seeks to
explain spatial phenomena.”
• Economies are both a product of space and time and of
the technologies and institutions that shape space and
time (geographer David Harvey introduced the concept of
“space-time compression”).
• Economic activities and institutions shape people’s lives
dramatically, as well as the fate of the settlements in
which they live, but they need not be passive.
KEY CONCEPTS FROM WEEK 1
• externalities
• “empty” vs. “full” world (linked to “limits to growth” and
notion of a “finite planet”
• growth, throughput, and development
• marginal utility and law of diminishing utility
• public vs. private goods
• the six forms of capital in addition to financial capital,
natural capital, social capital, human capital, physical
capital, and cultural capital.
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS
• The ‘real economy’ (producing actual goods and
services) is being eclipsed by the speculative financial
economy. It doesn’t produce anything, makes some
people fabulously wealthy, and potentially endangers the
stability of the global economy, as it did in 2007-2008.
• Definition of resilience:
• “the amount of change a system can absorb (its capacity
to absorb disturbance) and essentially retain the same
functions, structure and feedbacks.” Examples?
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS
• The authors introduced seven principles of resilience – what are
they?
 Diversity (biological, landscape, social, cultural and economic).
This is a variant of the old axiom: “Don’t put all your eggs in one
basket.” What would be some examples?
 Modularity- The ability of systems to function somewhat
independently of others. Why would this be desirable?
 Social Capital- Well-developed social networks, trust and
leadership.
 Innovation- Encouraging learning, experimentation, local
models, and being open to change. Examples?
 Overlap- Encouraging redundancy (i.e. some duplication of
function). Why would this be desirable?
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS
 Tight feedback loops- to let us know when our
production and consumptions activities are
approaching dangerous thresholds so we can
make course corrections.
 Ecosystem services- Making sure a full-cost
accounting occurs for such services and the
economy does not disregard them. Efforts have
been made to put dollar values on these.
ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Supporting services: ecosystem services "that are necessary for the
production of all other ecosystem services"
• nutrient dispersal and cycling
• seed dispersal
• primary production (role of plants in supporting food chains)
Provisioning services: "products obtained from ecosystems"
• food (including seafood and game), crops, wild foods, and spices
• water
• minerals (including diatomite)
• pharmaceuticals, biochemicals, and industrial products
• energy (hydropower, biomass fuels)
Regulating services: "benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem
processes"
• carbon sequestration and climate regulation
• waste decomposition and detoxification
• purification of water and air
• crop pollination
• pest and disease control
Cultural services: "non-material benefits people obtain from ecosystems
through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation
Source: Wikipedia
RECLAIMING THE COMMONS
• The authors argue that private property and commercial
markets are quite recent in origin, or at least played a
relatively marginal role. Most strongly engrained in European
culture. What is the link with settler-indigenous conflicts?
• When and why did private property and markets arose?
• Garrett Hardin, in his famous essay, “The Tragedy of the
Commons,” argued that commons will always be
overexploited because of personal greed. Ayn Rand thought
greed was in the collective interest. This is similar to Adam
Smith’s notion of “the invisible hand.”
9
RECLAIMING THE COMMONS
• The contemporary and historical commons is not
the same as open access systems. What are some
examples of each? Which one is related to the
notion of externalities?
• What is “the enclosure of the commons” and what
are some contemporary and historical examples?
• Are there any examples of reclaiming the
commons?
10
RECLAIMING THE COMMONS
•
The authors raise the issue of whether there can be
true political democracy without economic
democracy.
•
Are there examples of where the lack of one seems to
inhibit the other?
•
•
What would economic democracy look like?
What is civil society, or the third sector, and how does
it potentially relate to the public and private sectors?
11
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
• What does it mean to transition from the “cowboy
economy” to “the “spaceman economy” (Kenneth
Boulding)?
• From seeing the economy as autonomous to seeing it as
embedded in the yolk of society and the white and shell of
the biosphere? Be able to make arguments for both.
• What are major barriers to achieving ecological, social, and
economic sustainability? Trade-offs?
• Capitalism has been dominant for 5-600 years. What are
its strengths and weaknesses? What kind of future does it
have? Are there any viable alternatives?
ADDITIONAL CONCEPTS AND ISSUES
• What does the concept of the “moral economy”
refer to? Contemporary and historical examples?
• Mechanisms of distribution: free markets,
reciprocity, redistribution, and regulated markets
(e.g. Keynesianism)
• Wealth vs. commonwealth
• “market failure” and the Pareto optimum
ATTEMPTS TO BUILD ALTERNATIVES
• “In economics, market failure is when the allocation of
goods and services by a free market is not efficient. That is,
there exists another conceivable outcome where a market
participant may be made better-off without making
someone else worse-off.” Alternatives are motivated by a
desire to do better than the unfettered market.
• In finance – examples?
• In housing – examples?
• In energy – examples?
• In food – examples?