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Title
Sustainability and the new economics : synthesising ecological economics and modern monetary theory / Stephen J. Williams, Rod Taylor, editors.
ISBN
9783030787950 (eBook)
3030787958 (eBook)
9783030787943 (hardcover)
Published
Cham : Springer, [2022]
Copyright
©2022
Language
English
Description
1 online resource
Item Number
10.1007/978-3-030-78795-0 doi
Call Number
HC79.E5 S861623 2022
Dewey Decimal Classification
338.9/27
Summary
This multidisciplinary book provides new insights and hope for sustainable prosperity given recent developments in economics--but only if swift and strong actions consistent with Earth's biophysical limits and principles of justice are universally taken. It is one thing to put limits on resource throughput and waste generation to conform with the ecosphere's biocapacity. It is another thing to efficiently allocate a sustainable rate of resource throughput and ensure it is equitably distributed in the form of final goods and services. While the separate but interdependent decisions regarding throughput, distribution, and allocation are the essence of ecological economics, dealing with them in a world that needs to cure its growth addiction requires a realistic understanding of macroeconomics and the fiscal capacity of currency-issuing central governments. Sustainable prosperity demands that we harness this understanding to carefully regulate the rate of resource throughput and manipulate macroeconomic outcomes to facilitate human flourishing. The book begins by outlining humanity's current predicament of gross ecological overshoot and laments the half-century of missed opportunities since The Limits to Growth (1972). What was once economic growth has become, in many high-income countries, uneconomic growth (additional costs exceeding additional benefits), which is no longer advancing wellbeing. Meanwhile, low-income nations need a dose of efficient and equitable growth to escape poverty while protecting their environments and the global commons. The book argues for a synthesis of our increasing knowledge of the ecosphere's limited carrying capacity and the power of governments to harness, transform, and distribute resources for the common good. Central to this synthesis must be a correct understanding of the difference between financial constraints and real resource constraints. While the latter apply to everyone, the former do not apply to currency-issuing central governments, which have much more capacity for corrective action than mainstream thinking perceives. The book joins the growing chorus of authoritative voices calling for a complete overhaul of the dominant economic system. We conclude with policy recommendations based on a new economics that, if implemented, would come close to guaranteeing a sustainable and prosperous future. Upon reading this book, at least one thing should be crystal clear: business as usual is not a viable option.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Digital File Characteristics
text file
PDF
Source of Description
Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed December 21, 2021).
Introduction by William Rees
Ch 1: The great acceleration, planetary boundaries and the Anthropocene, Will Steffen, Ch 2: Assessing natural environments: a summary, David Lindenmayer & Chris Dickman
Ch 3: Human health and the natural environment, Colin D. Butler
Ch 4:UN Sustainability Goals, Kerryn Higgs
Ch. 5: The evolution of neoliberalism, John Quiggin
Ch 6: Population growth, Ian Lowe
Ch 7: Evaluation "The Limits to Growth" 50 Years On, Kerryn Higgs
Ch 8: The role of the fossil fuel industry, Ian Dunlop
Ch 9: Economic failures of the IPCC process, Steve Keen
Ch 10: Introduction to ecological economics, Philip Lawn & Stephen Williams
Ch 11: Energy systems for sustainable prosperity, Mark Diesendorf
Ch 12: Climate litigation and human rights, Michael Kirby & Sean Ryan
Ch 13: What is a green deal without growth, Riccardo Mastini
Ch 14: Paying a Green New Deal: MMT and the job guarantee, Steven Hall
Ch 15: The Paradigm Shift, Stephen Williams
Appendix.
