Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:48:44.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Key issues for attention from ecological economists1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2008

PAUL R. EHRLICH
PAUL R. EHRLICH*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper gives an ecologist's overview of the deteriorating environmental situation. It then describes areas where the activities of ecological economists seem appropriate (e.g., ecosystem service valuation, trade) and others requiring more attention (e.g., definitions of utility, social discounting, preserving population diversity, global toxification, the epidemiological environment, overpopulation, overconsumption, the economic impacts of nuclear explosions, and the equilibration of opportunity costs when attempting to solve global dilemmas). A general problem is the failure of ecological economists adequately to communicate their results and concerns to the general public and to decision makers. In view of the demonstrable failure of traditional economics to focus its attention on what will be the central issues of the twenty-first century, it is clear that ecological economics is in a position to become the central subdiscipline of economics. In order to do so, it is important for ecological economists to always keep the ‘big picture’ in view.

Type
Research Article
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aggarwal, R.M. 2006, ‘Globalization, local ecosystems, and the rural poor’, World Development 34: 1405–1418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersson, J.O. and Lindroth, M. 2001, ‘Ecologically unsustainable trade’, Ecological Economics 37: 113–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arrow, K. et al. 2004, ‘Are we consuming too much?’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 18: 147–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azqueta, D. and Sotelsek, D. 2007, ‘Valuing nature: from environmental impacts to natural capital’, Ecological Economics 63: 22–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balisacan, A.M. and Fuwa, N. 2004, ‘Going beyond cross country averages: growth, inequality and poverty reduction in the Philippines’, World Development 32: 1891–1907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banerjee, A.V. and Duflo, E. 2007, ‘The economic lives of the poor’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 21: 141–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bardhan, P. 2006, ‘Globalization and rural poverty’, World Development 34: 1393–1404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazzaz, F., Ceballos, G., Dirzo, R., Ehrlich, P.R., Eisner, T., et al. 1998, ‘Ecological science and the human predicament’, Science 282: 879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, R. 2007, ‘Arctic melt faster than forecast’, BBC News website, 30 April.Google Scholar
Boyd, J. and Banzhaf, S. 2007, ‘What are ecosystem services? The need for standardized environmental accounting units’, Ecological Economics 30, in press.Google Scholar
Ceballos, G. and Ehrlich, P.R. 2002, ‘Mammal population losses and the extinction crisis’, Science 296: 904–907.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chiesura, A. and de Groot, R. 2003, ‘Critical natural capital: a socio-cultural perspective’, Ecological Economics 44: 219–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cline, W.R. 1992, The Economics of Global Warming, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Cohen, D. 2007, ‘Earth's natural wealth: an audit’, New Scientist 34–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, M.A. 2000, Trade Liberalization, Economic Growth and the Environment, London: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Costanza, R. 2000, ‘The dynamics of the ecological footprint concept’, Ecological Economics 32: 341–345.Google Scholar
Costanza, R. et al. 1998, ‘The value of ecosystem services: putting the issues in perspective’, Ecological Economics 225: 67–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cross, G. 2000, An All-Consuming Century: Why Commercialism Won in Modern America, New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Daily, G.C. (ed.) 1997, Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems, Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Daily, G.C. and Ehrlich, P.R. 1996, ‘Socioeconomic equity, sustainability, and Earth's carrying capacity’, Ecological Applications 6: 991–1001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daily, G.C., Ehrlich, A.H., and Ehrlich, P.R. 1994, ‘Optimum human population size’, Population and Environment 15: 469–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daily, G.C., Ehrlich, A.H., and Ehrlich, P.R. 1995, ‘Socioeconomic equity: a critical element in sustainability’, Ambio 24: 58–59.Google Scholar
Daly, H.E. 2006, ‘Population, migration, and globalization’, Ecological Economics 59: 187–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 1993, An Inquiry into Well-being and Destitution, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 2000, ‘Population, resources, and poverty: an exploration of reproductive and environmental externalities’, Population and Development Review 26: 643–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 2001, Human Well-being and the Natural Environment, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 2003, ‘Population, poverty, and the natural environment’, in Mäler, K.-G. and Vincent, J.R. (eds.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, Vol. I, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, pp. 191–247.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, P. 2008, ‘Discounting climate change’, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, in press.Google Scholar
Dasgupta, S., Deichmann, U., Meisner, C., and Wheeler, D. 2005, ‘Where is the poverty-environment nexus? Evidence from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam’, World Development 33: 617–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diener, E. and Diener, C. 1995, ‘The wealth of nations revisited: income and the quality of life’, Social Indicators Research 36: 275–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diener, E., Sandvik, E., Seidlitz, L., and Diener, M. 1993, ‘The relationship between income and subjective well-being: relative or absolute’, Social Indicators Research 28: 195–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durning, A. 1992, How Much in Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth, New York, NY: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Easterlin, R.A. 1973, ‘Does money buy happiness?’, Public Interest 30: 3–10.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. 1989, ‘The limits to substitution: metaresource depletion and a new economic-ecological paradigm’, Ecological Economics 1: 9–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Holdren, J. 1971, ‘Impact of population growth’, Science 171: 1212–1217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehrlich, P.R. and Mooney, H.M. 1983, ‘Extinction, substitution and ecosystem services’, BioScience 33: 248–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Ehrlich, A.H. 1990, The Population Explosion, New York: Simon & Schuster.Google ScholarPubMed
Ehrlich, P.R. and Ehrlich, A.H. 2005, One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future (with new afterword), Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Ehrlich, A.H. 2006, ‘Enough already’, New Scientist 191: 46–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Ehrlich, A.H. 2008, The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment, Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R. and Goulder, L.H. 2008, ‘Is current consumption excessive? A general framework and some indications for the US’, Conservation Biology, in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R., Bilderback, L., and Ehrlich, A.H. 1981, The Golden Door: International Migration, Mexico, and the United States, New York, NY: Wideview Books.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R., Ehrlich, A.H., and Daily, G.C. 1995, The Stork and the Plow: The Equity Answer to the Human Dilemma, New York: Putnam.Google Scholar
Ehrlich, P.R., Harte, J., Harwell, M.A., Raven, P.H., Sagan, C., Woodwell, G.M. et al. 1983, ‘Long-term biological consequences of nuclear war’, Science 222: 1293–1300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enriques, L. and Volpin, P. 2007, ‘Corporate governance reforms in continental Europe’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 21: 117–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frank, R.H. 2007, Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Gale, F.P. 2000, ‘Economic specialization versus ecological diversification: the trade policy implications of taking the ecosystem approach seriously’, Ecological Economics 34: 285–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, J.E. 2007, ‘Scientific reticence and sea-level rise’, Environmental Research Letters 2 (024002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heal, G. 2000, Nature and the Marketplace: Capturing the Value of Ecosystem Services, Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Hecht, S.B., Kandel, S., Gomes, I., Cuellar, N., and Rosa, H. 2006, ‘Globalization, forest resurgence, and environmental politics in El Salvador’, World Development 34: 308–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hines, J.R. 2007, ‘Taxing consumption and other sins’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 21: 49–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, J.B., Daily, G.C., and Ehrlich, P.R. 1997, ‘Population diversity: its extent and extinction’, Science 278: 689–692.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, J.B., Daily, G.C., and Ehrlich, P.R. 2000, ‘The loss of population diversity and why it matters’, in Raven, P.H. (ed.), Nature and Human Society, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, pp. 71–83.Google Scholar
Keynes, J.M. 1936, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Kim, E.H., Morse, A., and Zingales, L. 2006, ‘What has mattered to economics since 1970’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 20: 189–A183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klare, M.T. 2001, Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict, New York, NY: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Klare, M.T. 2004, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.Google Scholar
Leclair, M.S. 2002, ‘Fighting the tide: alternative trade organizations in the era of global free trade’, World Development 30: 949–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeClair, M.S. and Franceschi, D. 2006, ‘Externalities in international trade: the case for differential tariffs’, Ecological Economics 58: 462–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, J., Daily, G., Ehrlich, P.H., and Luck, G. 2003, ‘Effects of household dynamics on resource consumption and biodiversity’, Nature 421: 530–533.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matutinovic, I. 2006, ‘Mass migrations, income inequality and ecosystems health in the second wave of a globalization’, Ecological Economics 59: 199–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikkelson, G.M., Gonzalez, A., and Peterson, G.D. 2007, ‘Economic inequality predicts biodiversity loss’, PLoS ONE 2: e444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mukherjee, S. and Benson, T. 2003, ‘The determinants of poverty in Malawi, 1998’, World Development 31: 339–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muradian, R. and Martinez-Alier, J. 2001, ‘Trade and the environment: from a “Southern” perspective’, Ecological Economics 36: 281–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, N. and Kent, J. 2004, The New Consumers: Rich Lives of Richer Lifestyles, Washington, DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
National Academy of Sciences USA 1993, A Joint Statement by Fifty-eight of the World's Scientific Academies, Population Summit of the World's Scientific Academies, New Delhi, India: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Nordhaus, W.D. 1994, Managing the Global Commons: The Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
O'Neill, B.C., MacKellar, F.L., and Lutz, W. 2004, ‘Population, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change’, in Lutz, W., Sanderson, W.C., and Scherbov, S. (eds), The End of World Population Growth, London: Earthscan, pp. 283–314.Google Scholar
Oak Ridge National Laboratory 1968, ‘Nuclear energy centers, industrial and agro-industrial complexes’, ORNL-4291, Summary Report.Google Scholar
Pirie, N.W. 1966, ‘Leaf protein as human food’, Science 152: 1701–1705.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Proops, J.L.R., Atkinson, G., Schlotheim, B.F., and Simon, S. 1999, ‘International trade and the sustainability footprint: a practical criterion for its assessment’, Ecological Economics 28: 75–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richmond, A., Kaufmann, R.K., and Myneni, R.B. 2007, ‘Valuing ecosystem services: a shadow price for net primary production’, Ecological Economics 30, in press.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, L.C., Pascual, U., and Niemeyer, H.M. 2006, ‘Local identification and valuation of ecosystem goods and services from Opuntia scrublands of Ayacucho, Peru’, Ecological Economics 57: 30–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Røpke, I. 1994, ‘Trade, development and sustainability – a critical assessment of the “free trade dogma”’, Ecological Economics 9: 13–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seidl, A.F. and Moraes, A.S. 2000, ‘Global valuation of ecosystem services: application to the Pantanal da Nhecolandia, Brazil’, Ecological Economics 33: 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seidl, I. and Tisdell, C.A. 1999, ‘Carrying capacity reconsidered: from Malthus’ population theory to cultural carrying capacity’, Ecological Economics 31: 395–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimamoto, M., Ubukata, F., and Seki, Y. 2004, ‘Forest sustainability and the free trade of forest products: cases from Southeast Asia’, Ecological Economics 50: 23–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, K. 2006, ‘Health impacts of household fuelwood use in developing countries’, Unsylva 22457: 1–4.Google Scholar
Smith, K., Mehta, S., and Maeusezahl-Feuz, M. 2004, ‘Indoor smoke from household solid fuels’, in Ezzati, M., Rodgers, A., Lopez, A., and Murray, C. (eds), Comparative Quantification of Health Risks: Global and Regional Burden of Disease due to Selected Major Risk Factors, vol. 2, Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, pp. 1435–1493.Google Scholar
Stern, N.H. 2007, The Stern Review of the Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sterner, T. 2003, Policy Instruments for Environmental and Natural Resource Management, Washington, DC: RFF Press.Google Scholar
Straton, A. 2006, ‘A complex systems approach to the value of ecological resources’, Ecological Economics 56: 402–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toman, M. 1998, ‘Why not to calculate the value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital’, Ecological Economics 25: 57–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Troy, A. and Wilson, M. 2006, ‘Mapping ecosystem services: practical challenges and opportunities in linking GIS and value transfer’, Ecological Economics 60: 435–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Union of Concerned Scientists 1993, World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists.Google Scholar
van Veen-Groot, D.B. and Nijkamp, P. 1999, ‘Globalisation, transport and the environment; new perspectives for ecological economics’, Ecological Economics 31: 331–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villa, F., Wilson, M.A., Groot, R., Farber, S., Costanza, R., and Boumans, R.M.J. 2002, ‘Designing an integrated knowledge base to support ecosystem services valuation’, Ecological Economics 41: 445–456.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wackernagel, M. and Silverstein, J. 2000, ‘Big things first: focusing on the scale imperative with the ecological footprint’, Ecological Economics 32: 391–394.Google Scholar
Zavaleta, E. 2000, ‘Valuing ecosystem services lost to Tamarix invasion in the United States’, in Mooney, H.A. and Hobbs, R.J. (eds), Invasive Species in a Changing World, Washington, DC: Island Press, pp. 261–200.Google Scholar