This book argues that mainstream economics, with its present
methodological approach, is limited in its ability to analyze and develop adequate public
policy to deal with environmental problems and sustainable development.
Each chapter provides major insights into many of today’s environmental
problems such as global warming and sustainable growth.
Building on the strengths and insights of Post Keynesian and ecological economics and
incorporating cutting-edge work in economic complexity, bounded rationality and
socio-economic dynamics, this book provides an interdisciplinary approach to deal with a
broad range of environmental concerns. The contributors show how and where the two
traditions share common ground concerning environmental problems and shed light on how the
two schools can learn from one another.
The book will be of great value to Post Keynesian and ecological economists as well as to
those interested in new approaches to important global environmental issues.
Edited by Richard P.F. Holt, Professor of Economics and University
Seminar, Southern Oregon University, US, Steven Pressman, Professor of Economics and
Finance, Monmouth University, US and Clive L. Spash, Economics Professor and Science
Leader of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia
Contents:
PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Post Keynesian and Ecological Economics: Alternative Perspectives on
Sustainability and Environmental Economics
Richard P.F. Holt and Clive L. Spash
PART II: METHODOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THOUGHT
2. Recent Developments in Post Keynesian Methodology and their Relevance for
Understanding Environmental Issues
Andrew Mearman
3. Challenges for Post Keynesian Growth Theory: Utopia Meets Environmental and
Social Reality
Clive L. Spash and Heinz Schandl
4. The Environmental Case for a Collective Assessment of Economism
Richard B. Norgaard
5. The Post Keynesian/Ecological Economics of Kenneth Boulding
Robert H. Scott, III
6. Combining Post Keynesian, Ecological and Institutional Economics Perspectives
Arild Vatn
PART III: CONSUMERS IN THEORY AND PRACTICE
7. Post Keynesian Consumer Choice Theory and Ecological Economics
Marc Lavoie
8. Price-based versus Standards-based Approaches to Reducing Car Addiction and
Other Environmentally Destructive Activities
Peter E. Earl and Tim Wakeley
9. The Socio-Psychology of Achieving Sustainable Consumption: An Example Using
Mass Communication
Lucia Reisch, Clive L. Spash and Sabine Bietz
PART IV: STRUCTURING SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION
10. Incorporating Biophysical Foundations in a Hierarchical Model of Societal
Metabolism
John Gowdy, Mario Giampietro, Jesus Ramos-Martin and Kozo Mayumi
11. Theoretical and Policy Issues in Complex Post Keynesian Ecological Economics
J. Barkley Rosser, Jr
12. Environmental Innovation: A Post Keynesian Interpretation
James Juniper
13. The Sustainable Economic Development of Traditional Peoples
James Kahn and Alexandre Rivas
14. Optimize versus Satisfice: Two Approaches to an Investment Policy in
Sustainable Development
Jerry Courvisanos
Index
352 pages, Hardcover
