real-world economics review, issue no. 102 subscribe for free
Ecological Economics in Four Parables Herman Daly [Emeritus Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, USA]1 Copyright: Herman Daly, 2022
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Introduction Economist Joseph Schumpeter stated that analysis must be preceded by a pre-analytical cognitive act that he called "vision," in order for analysis to have something to analyze. Visions can be clarified by a ab e . A a ab e f c ei a i e ha eache a big e ha e e e e . Pa ab e do not have to be historically true stories, but the ones here considered are. Part I contrasts the pre-analytic vision of ecological economics with that of conventional economics by ec i ga e ab he d af i g f he W d Ba World Development Report for 1992. That story serves as a basic parable by which to envision ecological economics as the study of the relationships between the economic subsystem (the economy) and the ecological parent system (the biosphere). Conventional economics sees the economy as the whole system, with nature fitted in as separated components---forests, fisheries, croplands, mines, garbage dumps, etc. Ecological economics sees nature, the biosphere, as the containing whole system into which the economy must fit and adapt, either well or badly. Part II provides the beginning analysis of the ecological economics vision, how the parts combine to function as a whole, the metabolic dependence of the economy on flows of matter and energy from and back to the biosphere, on their scale relative to the containing biosphere, and the very radical policy conclusions and sequence that analysis reveals. Here the instructive parable is provided by the story f Sa e P i a d he a i i e i i i f he ad i i e e e ed b he P i i e,a d the absence in conventional economics of an analog to the Plimsoll line. What would such an economic analog look like? Part III tells a tragic story about chemical engineer, Thomas Midgley, Jr., and the too eager reliance on technology as the sufficient solution to the problems revealed by analysis of the ecological economic 1 Below is the email with which Herman Daly submitted this paper about three weeks before he died.
Dear Edward, I hope that you are well and surviving still in our disintegrating world. RWER continues as a voice of sanity. I am still kicking, but slowly, which has its benefits. Attached is an article that I am submitting to RWER. Suggestions welcome. All good wishes, Herman
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