[...]... book is an introduction to the subject of ecological economics Ecological economics seeks not only to explain how the world works but also to propose mechanisms and institutions for making it work better Chapter 1 explains the basic subject matter of neoclassical and ecological economics in order to show the full scope of the new transdiscipline of ecological economics Having defined the territory, we... attempt the politically “impossible.” PART I An Introduction to Ecological Economics CHAPTER CHAPTER 1 Why Study Economics? I What Is Economics? E Allocation is the process of apportioning resources to the production of different goods and services Neoclassical economics focuses on the market as the mechanism of allocation Ecological economics recognizes that the market is only one possible mechanism... Macroeconomics arose in response to the failure of microeconomic theory to explain and respond to recessions and depressions Ecological economics is emerging in response to the failures of microeconomics and macroeconomics to address unsustainable scale and inequitable distribution Ecological economics takes a more inclusive, and activist, position We describe the nature of scarce resources and the ends for... subsystem We draw out the useful elements of neoclassical economic theory and integrate them into ecological economics Microeconomics, macroeconomics, or international trade each provides sufficient material for years of study, and this text conveys no more than the essentials Chapters 8 and 9 introduce microeconomics, the study of mechanisms for efficiently allocating specific scarce resources among specific... solve the most serious problems we currently face In Part IV, we turn to macroeconomics As we stated earlier, ecological economics views the economy as a part of a larger finite system This means that the traditional goal of macroeconomic policy—unlimited economic growth in the physical dimension—is impossible Thus, in ecological economics, optimal scale replaces growth as a goal, followed by fair distribution... inadequacies as economics, studying ecosystems as if they were isolated from human affairs on a planet of six billion humans also suggests an inclination to accept fantasy over reality Ecological economics, therefore, is not simply bringing the light of ecology into the darkness of economics Both disciplines need fundamental reform if their marriage is to work Nor is autistic tunnel vision limited to economics. .. that the laws of thermodynamics are irrelevant to economics Precisely because ecological economists have some basic disagreements with standard economics, it is necessary to emphasize that these divergences are branchings from a common historical trunk, not the felling of that common trunk We have provided a workbook, Farley, Erickson, Daly, Ecological Economics: A Workbook for Problem-Based Learning,... Ahead, once again reflects on the ethical assumptions of ecological economics We call for a return to the beginnings of economics as a moral philosophy explicitly directed toward raising the quality of life of this and future generations In summary, neoclassical microeconomic theory arose primarily as an effort to explain the market economy Macroeconomics arose in response to the failure of microeconomic... 501 Acknowledgments W e are grateful to our many colleagues in the International Society for Ecological Economics for their intellectual contributions and the community of scholarship and support they provide We especially wish to acknowledge Robert Costanza, and the faculty at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, as well as our colleagues at the University of Maryland... shortcoming to traditional economics than a limited understanding of means I The Call for Change As this is written, there are news reports of a group of economics students in French and British universities who are rebelling against what they are being taught They have formed a Society for Post-Autistic Economics Their implicit diagnosis is apt, since autism, like conventional economics, is characterized . INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS / 1 Chapter 1 Why Study Economics? / 3 What Is Economics? / 3 The Purpose of This Textbook / 6 Coevolutionary Economics. thermodynamics are irrelevant to economics. Precisely because ecological economists have some basic disagreements with standard economics, it is necessary to