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Abstract Critics have long questioned the feasibility (and desirability) of exponential growth on a finite planet. More recently, mainstream economists have begun to suggest some 'secular' limits to growth. Declining growth rates have in their turn been identified as instrumental in increased inequality and the rise of political populism. This paper explores these emerging arguments paying a particular attention to the dynamics of secular stagnation. It examines the underlying phenomenon of declining labour productivity growth and unpacks the close relationships between productivity growth, the wage rate and social inequality. It also points to the historical congruence (and potential causal links) between declining productivity growth and resource bottlenecks. Contrary to some mainstream views, this paper finds no inevitability in the rising inequality that has haunted advanced economies in recent decades, suggesting instead that it lies in the pursuit of growth at all costs, even in the face of challenging fundamentals. This strategy has hindered technological innovation, reinforced inequality and exacerbated financial instability. At the very least, this paper argues, it is now time for policy to consider seriously the possibility that low growth rates might be 'the new normal' and to address carefully the 'post-growth challenge' this poses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joint research between economists and hydrologists increasingly contributes to optimising the economic value gained from water, while safeguarding its social and environmental values. The application of hydro-economic analysis to mining regions, however, is limited. This paper examines why this is the case and how to confront it. The paper focuses on identifying and describing features of large-scale mines and mine regions that are challenging to analyse such as: magnitude of capital involved, time-scale and remoteness of projects, inherent environmental risks, and strong negative perceptions about mining's impacts on water. These characteristics may limit the applicability of established hydro-economic concepts and methods, thus risk-based metrics are discussed as complementary tools. We also contend that further research and development in water-related ecosystem services should be a priority, in order to better quantify trade-offs between the economic benefits of water use by mining and competing users, including environmental flows. Case studies of mining regions in Chile, Madagascar and Sweden are summarised to illustrate some of the issues raised. While data limitations are an obstacle, new and extended case studies are required to explore how the challenges may be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding which drivers and barriers exist in the development of a circular economy (CE) is a relevant and timely endeavour. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this debate by analysing evidence regarding the different factors helping and hampering the development of a CE. Specifically, this paper focuses on the eco-innovation (EI) pathway towards a CE, and tries to coordinate available but fragmented findings regarding how “transformative innovation” can foster this transition while removing obstacles to sustainability. Drawing upon a new corpus of both academic and non-academic literature, this work offers a framework for analysis, as well as an evidence-based survey of the challenges, for a green structural change of the economy. We argue that the combination of the innovation systems' view with the more recent “transformation turn” in innovation studies may provide an appropriate perspective for understanding the transition to a CE. Ultimately, the paper aims to capitalise on these insights to contribute to the design of policy guidelines and organisational strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically explores the linkage between the economic opportunities and climate adaptation and other antecedents in cities. Our dependent variable includes the economic opportunities identified by the cities; our independent variables are the adaptation plans, adaptation actions, climate change risks, incentive types, and incentivized stakeholders. To explore the effects of climate change risks, adaptation plans, adaptation actions, incentive types, and incentivized stakeholders, we used polychoric factor analysis and logistic regression analysis. The results show that a city's climate change adaptation plan and GDP have significant positive relationships with the economic opportunities present in the cities. Meanwhile, climate change risks also have a positive relationship with economic opportunities. Furthermore, economic opportunities present in cities have a negative relationship with three variables: one group of climate actions and two groups of stakeholders. This paper also further discusses the possible effects of incentives in the case of climate change in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change economics is now four decades old. Much of what it has achieved as a field of academic enquiry can be linked back to issues of integrated assessment modelling. This paper shows that the standard approach is going through a major change in scope as of the last five years. The conventional focus on determining optimal mitigation paths based on modelling the social cost of carbon is being enlarged to embrace promising new waves of research. These are: (1) the economics of insurance against catastrophic risks; (2) the economics of trade and climate; and (3) the economics of climate change adaptation. The paper helps to bridge the gap between economics and climate policy by showing that the analytical toolkit of climate change economics has shifted towards more realistic representations of climatic policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on Harold Hotelling's approach to time discounting in the context of the intertemporal allocation of exhaustible natural resources. In 1931, Hotelling introduces a positive discount rate when dealing with the "social value" or "total utility" derived from a resource. His position was in contrast with early economic literature on conservation, as well as with the point of view of Frank Ramsey, according to whom time discounting expressed an unjustified preference for the welfare of present generations over that of future ones. Hence, it has been argued that Hotelling dismissed ethical concerns. Using archival material, we find that, for Hotelling, economic questions should not be restricted to issues of economic efficiency; that his choice to discount utility – which he considered as analogous to a concrete benefit – at the interest rate is compatible with Ramsey's position; and, more broadly, that this choice does not preclude an ethical position on the desirable distribution of exhaustible resources through time. To Hotelling, ethics is implemented by politics, through fiscal corrections of the interest rate. Revisiting Hotelling on the articulation between ethics, allocative efficiency, and policies allows us to rethink the way we do that in current models using time discounting. • In the 1920s, ethical issues were seen as an obstacle to time discounting. • In 1931, Hotelling discounts future "total utilities" at the interest rate. • Hotelling defines total utility as a monetary and concrete benefit. • For him, discounting such concrete quantities would be ethically justifiable. • Later, he would address ethical requirements through fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how epistemic analyses (Birkin and Polesie, 2011; Foucault, 1970, 1990a, 1990b) may assist with the development of sustainability economics (Bartelmus, 2010; Baumgärtner and Quaas, 2010a, 2010b; and Söderbaum, 2011) and the capability approach (Ballet et al., 2011; Martins, 2011; Rauschmayer and Leßmann, 2011; Scerri, 2012). It was the French social theorist Michel Foucault (1926–1984) who coined the term “episteme” to refer to the “possibility of knowledge” that determines the development of thought and knowledge in a given period. For Foucault epistemes were the “buried” foundations of knowledge that his epistemic “archaeology” could unearth. In 2007, Foucault was identified as the most cited author of books in the humanities by Thomson Reuters' ISI Web of Science. This paper begins with a brief definition and description of epistemic analyses. A summary analysis of the Modern episteme and neoclassical economics is then provided and this is followed by outline evidence for the emerging episteme. Finally the opportunity is considered for the emerging episteme to reinforce and enhance sustainability economics and the capability approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The land-use change and forestry sector can be a cost-effective contributor to climate mitigation in at least three ways: providing carbon offsets through carbon sequestration in biomass and soils, reducing emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases, and producing biofuels that replace fossil fuels. The presence of carbon markets should help encourage these activities; however, most carbon trades to date have occurred in the energy sector. A major obstacle to carbon trades from land-use systems is the presence of high transaction costs of converting a carbon offset into a tradable commodity, so the prevailing market carbon prices may not provide enough incentive for adoption. This paper presents a model of the exchange of carbon offsets between a project developer and a group of landholders. The model is solved to derive project feasibility frontiers that show the minimum number of contracts necessary to make a project feasible at any given carbon price. The model is applied to two case studies (smallholder agroforestry in Indonesia and partial reforestation of family farms in Australia) under two types of contract (purchase of carbon flows and rental of carbon stocks). The paper concludes by identifying possible strategies to reduce transaction costs while maintaining project integrity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper puts forward a political economy critique of the perceived solid conceptual foundations of Sustainable Well-Being Indicators (SWBIs) such as ISEW and GPI. A particular version of ‘entropic net psychic income’ has been implanted as the main conceptual basis for these aggregated measures of sustainable economic welfare. However, a well-known limitation of SWBIs is that they do not prudently factor-in measures of investment and depreciation of ‘human-health capital’—yet this is a critical aspect of sustainable well-being. It is argued that under Fisher's psychic income framework, the heart of the indicator is a theory that specifies accounting for some sort of change in the human psyche, i.e. the stock (or fund) of human-health capital. Advocates of SWBIs cannot adequately account for the degree of human health or knowledge, because this is not their reference point—‘personal consumption expenditures’ is their reference point. Political economy seeks to avoid abstracting from the whole reality, recognising that endogenous processes of human-health capital formation are overdetermined. This paper thus argues that there is a significant conceptual shortcoming in ISEW and GPI, which, if left unattended will undermine the measure of theoretical legitimacy and empirical efficacy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Linking tropical cyclone activity with anthropogenic climate change is subject to on-going debate. However, modelling studies consistently have projected that climate change is likely to increase the intensity of cyclones and the related rainfall rates in the future. A precautionary approach to this possibility is to adapt to the adverse effects of the changing climate by improving early warning services for cyclones as a ‘no or low-regrets’ option. Given limited funding resources, assessments of economic efficiency will be necessary, and values for benefits are an essential input. This paper aims to estimate the benefits to households of an improved cyclone warning service in Vietnam. Choice experiment surveys with 1014 respondents were designed and conducted to inform this paper. The benefit estimates of the maximal improvements in a number of attributes of cyclone warning services (i.e. forecasting accuracy, frequency of update, and mobile phone based warnings) are approximately USD7.1–8.1 per household, which would be an upper bound estimate. Results from the marginal willingness to pay for the attributes suggest that investments should be dedicated to improvements in the accuracy of warning information and a warning service based on mobile phone short message. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes a new model, Climate and Regional Economics of Development (CRED), which is designed to analyze the economics of climate and development choices. Its principal innovations are the treatment of global equity, calculation of the optimum interregional flows of resources, and use of McKinsey marginal abatement cost curves to project the cost of mitigation. The unconstrained, optimal climate policy in CRED involves very large capital flows from high-income to developing countries, to an extent that might be considered politically unrealistic. Under more realistic constraints, climate outcomes are generally worse; climate stabilization requires either moderate capital flows to developing countries, or a very low discount rate. In CRED, more equitable scenarios have better climate outcomes; the challenge of climate policy is to persuade high-income countries to accept the need for both international equity and climate protection. The paper ends with an agenda for further model development. A technical appendix describes the model relationships and parameters in greater detail. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the role of property rights in soil conservation. The conventional wisdom in soil conservation and property rights argues that tenants invest less than landlords in sustainable management practices and tend to overexploit soil biota services. The paper examines how this issue is linked to bioeconomic considerations. In an optimal control approach to the modeling of soil ecosystem services exploitation, the paper shows how economic, biological and ecological variables drive the rewards of investment in soil conservation through agricultural practices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential gains from changing the existing regulatory framework for fresh water aquaculture production in Denmark. The regulatory framework is changed from an input regulation based on farm-specific feed quotas, to an individual transferable quota system on nitrogen pollution. The regulatory change is analyzed using Data Envelopment Analysis to model the underlying production structure. The effect of allowing trading of nitrogen quotas on production and profitability is analyzed in a joint production model with good and bad output under different behavioral and technical assumptions, whilst keeping the overall pollution level of nitrogen constant. Furthermore, the effect of a catchment area restriction on nitrogen is analyzed to comply with the EU Water Framework Directive. The paper quantifies the gains of a policy change from a command and control system to an incentive based system. The estimated results suggest that the changed regulation could increase Danish aquaculture production by 16 to 55%, whilst actual profitability could be increased 5 to 10 times. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The spatial distribution of agri-environmental policy benefits has important implications for the efficient allocation of management effort. The practical convenience of relying on sample mean values of individual benefits for aggregation can come at the cost of biased aggregate estimates. The main objective of this paper is to test spatial hypotheses regarding respondents'' local water quality and quantity, and their willingness-to-pay for improvements in water quality attributes. This paper combines choice experiment and spatially related water quality data via a Geographical Information System (GIS) to develop a method that evaluates the influence of respondents'' local water quality on willingness-to-pay for river and stream conservation programmes in Canterbury, New Zealand. Results showed that those respondents who live in the vicinity of low quality waterways are willing to pay more for improvements relative to those who live near to high quality waterways. The study also found that disregarding the influence of respondents'' local water quality data has a significant impact on the magnitude of welfare estimates and causes substantial underestimation of aggregated benefits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract This paper investigates how farmers' understanding of nature and its protection influences their decisions on the uptake of nature protection measures, including agri-environmental (AEM) and greening measures. It aims to answer two research questions: (1) How do agricultural producers understand nature and nature protection? and (2) How does producers' understanding of nature influence their decisions on and choices of nature protection measures? Taking an institutional economics approach to behaviour, we scrutinise if and to what extend the objectives and beliefs constituting a reason for action incorporate nature-related considerations. The results generated by a case study in Lower Saxony (Germany) suggest that distinct understanding of nature and nature protection are a constituent of farmers' decisions on nature protection measures. Producers doubt the positive nature-related effects of some agri-environmental and greening measures whose design does not correspond to the central aspects of their understanding of nature. They prefer implementing measures of their own design and on own initiative to participation in AEM, and choose to cultivate cover crops with apparent environmental effects to fulfil the greening requirements. The enhancement of nature protection in agriculture requires improvement in advisory services to farmers and the revision of the governance of nature protection in agriculture. Highlights • Agricultural producers have a distinct understanding of nature. • Agricultural production decisions incorporate producers' understanding of nature. • Positive effects of many agri-environmental and greening measures on nature are doubted. • Producers prefer implementing measures of their own design to participation in AEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Facing the intertwined environmental, social and economic crisis requires us to seriously consider alternatives to the current capitalist system, including the emerging concept of degrowth. Existing understandings of degrowth have focused on characterizing the shape, the key elements and the proposals for a degrowth society. However, its dynamic and evolving nature as an alternative vision of the future, and the dynamics of a transition toward degrowth are inadequately considered. This paper seeks to address this conceptual gap through a reconceptualisation of degrowth as a radical niche innovation to the capitalist-growth regime. By extending the multi-level perspective framework to the capitalist-growth system, we undertake a critical reconsideration of the multi-level perspective, exposing key assumptions of this framework grounded in capitalist economic theory. Through this, we propose a Pluriversal potential pathway for change. To consider this further, a bibliometric analysis is used to measure and visualize research activity in degrowth as a proxy for the processes of development of the degrowth niche. Then, we return to the multi-level perspective to consider two potential pathways for change involving the degrowth niche and the capitalist-growth regime. Finally, we point to areas for further research that build on this new conceptualisation of a degrowth transition. Highlights • Key assumptions in the multi-level perspective are grounded in capitalist theory. • The multi-level perspective can be usefully extended to the socio-economic system. • Degrowth is conceptualized as a radical niche innovation to the capitalist-growth regime. • Bibliometric analysis serves as a proxy for the development of the degrowth niche. • A Pluriversal pathway offers insights into potential transition pathways for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of environmental regulation on the productivity of manufacturing plants in the United States. Establishment-level data from three Censuses of Manufactures are used to estimate 3-factor Cobb–Douglas production functions that include a measure of the stringency of environmental regulation faced by manufacturing plants. In contrast to previous studies, this paper examines effects on plants in all manufacturing industries, not just those in “dirty” industries. Further, this paper employs spatial–temporal variation in environmental compliance costs to identify effects, using a time-varying county-level index that is based on multiple years of establishment-level data from the Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey and the Annual Survey of Manufactures. Results suggest that, for the average manufacturing plant, there is no statistically significant effect on productivity of being in a county with higher environmental compliance costs. For the average plant, the main effect of environmental regulation may not be in the spatial and temporal dimensions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the past few decades, economists have defended the use of market-based instruments (MBI) in environmental and climate policy. There have been many papers which have compared the costs of attaining environmental objectives with MBIs and with command and control instruments. However very few have compared different MBIs in examining these costs. This paper seeks to analyse various MBIs for CO2 mitigation from the viewpoint of cost-effectiveness, using an AGE (applied general equilibrium) model for the case of Spain. A distinction is drawn between (1) quantity instruments, which represent different extents of a market for emission permits; and (2) price instruments, which represent different types of tax. Each instrument can affect different segments of the emission sources and therefore can have very different effects on the economy as a whole. We show how MBI can help to minimise mitigation costs, but also how taxes and tradable emission permits that are limited or constrained by many exemptions and distortions can raise costs considerably. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While the biofouler Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774) is known to cause great economic losses in North America, studies reporting the problem in Europe are much scarcer. This paper explores the industrial effects of the species in Portugal, the gateway by which the bivalve entered Europe around 30 years ago. National waterworks, major power stations, cement plants, pulp and paper mills and irrigation systems were surveyed. The industrial impacts of the pest were shown to remain relatively mild; irrigation systems are those that seem to be facing more significant economic losses due to infestation. Possible reasons for the apparent discrepancy between this result and the species dispersal in natural ecosystems are discussed, and recommendations on adequate responses to the latent threat are provided. This study may assist the implementation of integrated pest management policies in countries at risk of invasion or recently invaded, and contribute to an understanding of the species’ progression in industrial environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The regulating services provided by ecosystems are amongst the most important for the sustainability of resource use, and yet they are also amongst the least understood. This paper considers one set of regulating mechanisms – the buffering functions of wetlands – and considers the information needed to identify both the value of the services offered by wetlands, and their substitutes. Using data from a catchment discharging water and nutrients to the Kenyan segment of Lake Victoria, the Yala catchment, the paper models the interactions between agriculture and fisheries as mediated by wetlands at the lake margin. More particularly, it estimates the value of the forgone nutrient retention function involved in the conversion of the wetland to agriculture, and the scope for providing the same services through land use change elsewhere in the catchment. The total cost of the payments that would compensate farmers for on-farm nutrient buffering services is 3.86M US$year−1, or 35% of the total gains from wetland conversion to crop production. This finding contributes to an understanding of both the value of regulating services and how they might most effectively be delivered in alternative ways. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that GDP growth in both developed and developing countries has associated costs that can outweigh the benefits and thus reduce sustainable well-being. This conclusion is based upon the findings of empirical applications of the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) to a range of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The studies conducted on seven Asia-Pacific countries indicate that, in the case of five of the seven nations, more recent GDP growth has reduced the sustainable well-being experienced by the average citizen residing within them. Moreover, the threshold point at which the costs of GDP growth outweigh the benefits appears to be contracting (i.e., occurring at a much lower per capita level of GDP). This paper therefore introduces a new contracting threshold hypothesis: as the economies of the Asia-Pacific region and the world collectively expand in a globalised economic environment, there is a contraction over time in the threshold level of per capita GDP. As a consequence, the threshold point confronting growth late-comers (i.e., developing countries) occurs at a much lower level of sustainable welfare than what wealthy nations currently enjoy. The consequences of this for developing countries are clearly significant and require a new approach to economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper offers a critical look at how energy security-, food and agriculture-, and climate change-oriented international organizations frame biomass energy production in developing countries, in particular, ethanol production in Brazil. Using the world-economy system as a theoretical lens, the paper raises a concern as to whether the way these global institutions frame bioenergy's role in developing regions manifests energy and ecological inequalities between the core and the periphery, as well as creates internal contradictions that perpetuate unequal exchange embedded in the system. Simultaneously, these organizations frame Brazil as a semi-peripheral state that, while successful in finding a niche concurring with the core's demand for cheap energy and cost-effective decarbonization strategies, is not necessarily a suitable role model for the periphery's socio–economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes the theoretical foundations and development of a multidimensional, water-focused, thematic indicator of rural poverty: The Water, Economy, Investment and Learning Assessment Indicator (WEILAI). The WEILAI approach was specifically designed for application in rural China, to support poverty alleviation project planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as targeting and prioritization. WEILAI builds primarily on the basic needs framework of poverty alleviation, and on the methodological structure of the Water Poverty Index, to provide a proxy measure of an area's poverty by assessing eight key poverty sectors, with a strong focus on the components of water-poverty. The WEILAI approach was piloted and implemented in 534 households in China's mountainous southwest. This paper describes the indicator construction, weighting schemes, methodology, field sites, and statistical validation of the results. In addition, we discuss the results, feedback from in-country project staff, and the likely utility of the tool for project planning, monitoring and evaluation support. The paper concludes with a discussion of WEILAI's overall utility and ongoing development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Most ecosystem services (ES) are neither priced nor marketed. Resource managers may fail to take into account degradation of unpriced services in their resource management decisions. Being able to estimate values for ES is fundamental to designing policies to induce resource users to provide (or improve) ES at levels that are acceptable to society. Conducting ecosystem valuation via non-market methods is costly and time consuming. Benefit transfer (BT) using choice experiment (CE) is a potentially cost-effective method for valuing ES by transferring information from existing valuation studies (and study sites) to a target area of interest (policy sites). The prime objective of this paper is to examine the validity of BT and hence whether it is feasible to conduct the transfer process and assist policy making. The paper focuses on the environmental impact of winegrowing practices in two New Zealand winegrowing regions. The two sites, Hawke''s Bay and Marlborough, have similar environmental issues and attributes but are geographically separated. The study estimates Willingness to Pay (WTP) and Compensating Surplus (CS) for ES applying CE and, subsequently, given the preferences of respondents across sites and populations, tests the transferability of unadjusted value transfer (WTP) and benefits function (CS) assessing four different types of BT. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The maintenance of climatic conditions that support biotic integrity and human life is a critical aspect of sustainable development. Serious instability in global economic and environmental spheres calls for an intensive search for new paradigms guiding human understanding, motivation and action. This two-part paper examines how central Buddhist world views and themes can contribute to effectively addressing climate change and other sustainability problems confronting consumer economies. Environmental, economic, ethical and cosmological dimensions of Buddhism are presented as a logical and practical basis for reducing the climate change pressures deriving from prevailing global modes of production and consumption. This first paper presents an analytical framework and philosophical base for understanding the causes and refining the goals behind human and societal endeavor. This frames the relevant adaptive responses outlined in the concluding paper. The paper begins by developing an innovative systems framework for analyzing major environmental problems such as climate change. Building on this framework, we then examine Buddhist insights into the fundamental nature of the behavior and driving forces that generate climate change. The model not only provides an improved basis for human–environmental analysis in general, but is applied to demonstrate and specify how the Buddhist world view could be operationalized to tackle anthropogenic climate change — the task is undertaken in second paper. Buddhist notions of interconnectedness, dependent origination, and mindful consumption and production can help explain and reshape human motives and actions for climate and other forms of environmental sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The evidence of impending and serious climate and other consequences of an expanding world economy based on fossil carbon energy continues to accumulate. This two-part paper examines the potential contribution of the world view and insights of Buddhism to this search. It presents both a conceptual and practical case that Buddhism can help shape and move towards an alternative and effective paradigmatic basis for sustainable economies — one capable of bringing about and maintaining genuine, high welfare levels across the world''s societies. The first paper outlined a comprehensive analytical framework to identify the fundamental nature of anthropogenic climate change. Based on the integration of two of the most influential environmental analysis tools of recent decades (the DPSIR model and IPAT equation), the framework was then broadened to facilitate ideas from the Buddhist world view by injecting two key missing aspects — the interrelated role of (1) beliefs and values (on goals and behavior) and (2) the nature of well-being or human happiness. Finally, the principal linkages between this climate change analysis framework and Buddhism were explored. In this concluding paper, the systems framework is used to demonstrate how Buddhist and related world views can feed into appropriate and effective responses to the impending challenges of climate change. This is undertaken by systematically presenting a specific, if indicative, list of relevant strategies informed by the understanding of interconnectedness and other basic principles about the nature of reality and human well-being as proposed in Buddhism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Central government policy is based on a misguided understanding of the macroeconomics of a modern, fiat-currency economy. As the owner/issuer of a nation's currency, a central government has unlimited spending power. Moreover, taxation exists as nothing more than a means by which a central government can destroy the spending power of the private sector. In the process of outlining some of the policies required to facilitate the transition to a steady-state economy, this paper does not recommend that central governments should spend wildly and irresponsibly. To the contrary, this paper explains how a central government can use its unique spending and taxation powers in a disciplined and policy-effective manner, yet in a manner that is being largely overlooked. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents an estimate of the benefits of the proposed designation of a network of marine conservation zones (MCZs) in English territorial and UK offshore waters. This ex ante analysis was undertaken as part of a cost–benefit evidence base to inform implementation of the proposed UK Marine and Coastal Access Bill. This Bill is part of an ambitious plan to designate and manage UK marine areas using an Ecosystems Approach. Benefits are measured in terms of anticipated increases in the value of ecosystem goods and services provisioned by MCZs relative to the counterfactual, i.e. no designation. The principal valuation and thus policy challenge is presented by the need to use benefits transfer in a context where biophysical provisioning functions are not well-developed, where there are gaps in the valuation literature related to temperate marine ecosystem goods and services, and where values (where available) are presented in aggregate terms. This paper develops and applies a methodology that first apportions these aggregate benefits across the diverse range of marine landscapes and habitats and then estimates the marginal benefit of protection. The value of benefits was calculated for three different configurations of MCZs under two different management regimes. We estimate a benefit range from designation of between £10.2billion and £23.5billion in present value terms, applying a 3.5% discount rate. The study questions the extent to which a defensible policy evidence base can be developed in the absence of primary valuation data and where benefit estimates are reported in aggregate terms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper illustrates a two-step procedure for measuring land degradation (LD) risk in agriculture. The procedure estimated the potential costs of LD from a standard index of land sensitivity to degradation (ESAI) by calculating, over 784 local districts covering the entire Italian territory, a ‘depletion factor’ in relation to the agricultural value added. The procedure was based on changes in the ESAI (1990–2000) and ancillary variables (i.e., per capita value added, share of agriculture in the total production, and agricultural profitability). On average, the estimated costs of LD in Italy amounted to nearly 0.5% of the agricultural value added (which corresponded to 12€/ha of cultivated surface). These figures are comparable to those presented in the literature for regions with similar environmental conditions. This paper contains descriptions of the assumptions under which the proposed scheme works and comments on their empirical plausibility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze climate change and ecological destruction through the prism of the core general principles of political economy. The paper starts with the principle of historical specificity, and the various waves of climate change through successive cooler and warmer periods on planet Earth, including the most recent climate change escalation through the open circuit associated with the treadmill of production. Then we scrutinize the principle of contradiction associated with the disembedded economy, social costs, entropy and destructive creation. The principle of uneven development is then explored through core–periphery dynamics, ecologically unequal exchange, metabolic rift and asymmetric global (in)justice. The principles of circular and cumulative causation (CCC) and uncertainty are then related to climate change dynamics through non-linear transformations, complex interaction of dominant variables, and threshold effects. Climate change and ecological destruction are impacting on most areas, especially the periphery, earlier and more intensely than previously thought likely. A political economy approach to climate change is able to enrich the analysis of ecological economics and put many critical themes in a broad context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In a previous paper (Ulanowicz, Goerner, Lietaer, and Gomez, 2009), we combined thermodynamic, network, and information theoretic measures with research on real-life ecosystems to create a generalized, quantitative measure of sustainability for any complex, matter/energy flow system. The current paper explores how this metric and its related concepts can be used to provide a new narrative for long-term economic health and sustainability. Based on a system's ability to maintain a crucial balance between two equally essential, but complementary factors, resilience and efficiency, this generic explanation of the network structure needed to maintain long-term robustness provides the missing theoretical explanation for what constitutes healthy development and the mathematical means to differentiate it quantitatively from mere growth. Matching long-standing observations of sustainable vitality in natural ecosystems and living organisms, the result is a much clearer, more accurate understanding of the conditions needed for free-enterprise networks to produce the kind of sustainable vitality everyone desires, one which enhances and reliably maintains the health and well-being of all levels of global civilization as well as the planet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With rapid economic development, higher income levels, urbanization and other socio-economic drivers, people's lifestyles in China have changed remarkably over the last 50 years. This paper uses the IPAT model (where I =Impact representing CO2 emissions, P =Population, A =Affluence, and T =emission intensity) to analyze how these main drivers contributed to the growth of CO2 emissions over this time period. Affluence or lifestyle change has been variously recognized as one of the key factors contributing to CO2 emissions. Through comparative analysis of the development of five regions in China, we trace lifestyle changes since the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 until 2002. We find that household consumption across the five regions follows similar trajectories, driven by changes in income and the increasing availability of goods and services, although significant differences still exist between and within regions due to differential policies in China and different possibilities for social mobility. There are considerable differences between the southeast and northwest and between urban and rural areas. We also found that technological improvements have not been able to fully compensate for the increase of emissions due to population growth and increasing wealth, which is also in line with results from other studies. Finally, this paper emphasizes that developing countries such as China, which is home to 22% of the world population and a growing middle class, and which is on a fast track to modernization, need to ensure that people's lifestyles are changing towards more sustainable ways of living. China has been investing heavily in infrastructure and thus creating the emissions of tomorrow. Thus investing, for example, in public transport and low energy building today will help reduce emissions in the future and will support more sustainable lifestyles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper explores how the development of payment schemes for water-related environmental services can be understood and supported. Currently, the development of such payment schemes is perceived mainly through theoretical lenses offered by economists and hydrologists. Notwithstanding the usefulness and appropriateness of these theoretical lenses, they have difficulties to accommodate certain aspects of the development of payment schemes for water-related environmental services. Specifically, the discussion of negotiation aspects remains relatively isolated and superficial, even though it is generally acknowledged that the development of payment schemes is often significantly influenced by political negotiations. This paper addresses this limitation. It shows how the main elements of negotiation analysis can provide a theoretical underpinning for important drivers behind the development of specific payment schemes, which are beyond the scope of hydrological or economic rationality. Four cases of water-related payment schemes in the Netherlands are studied, employing one of the key insights offered by negotiation analysis: the importance of the underlying interests and values of the parties involved. The findings of these four cases show the potential of negotiation analysis as a useful complement for understanding and supporting the development of payment schemes for environmental services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Using happiness data to study economic issues is a burgeoning field in recent economic literature. This paper shows that happiness research has considerable potential for environmental economic analysis. The paper discusses some implications of happiness research for environmental policy analysis, specifically with respect to the level of socially optimal environmental quality. It discusses evidence that consumer choice may be not utility maximizing and systematically distorted away from intrinsically motivated options, especially environment-friendly consumption. Finally, the paper describes how happiness data can be used in a novel approach to the monetary valuation of environmental quality and discusses the associated benefits and problems in relation to conventional methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Proposals being considered by the U.S. Congress would establish a cap-and-trade system to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions approximately 2% annually through 2050. Past cap-and-trade policies for other pollutants have distributed allowances free to the regulated companies, leaving consumers uncompensated for passed-through costs needed to achieve the required reductions. Social equity concerns were not a major issue because the total costs were relatively small. However, Americans currently spend about $1 trillion/year on energy, directly and indirectly via the goods and services they consume. If a cap on carbon emissions results in significant increases in energy prices, social equity concerns could quickly dominate the debate over climate policy. This paper confirms earlier studies that a traditional cap-and-trade policy is regressive and would cause the cost of reducing GHG emissions to fall disproportionately on low income households. This paper explores ways to ameliorate those effects, using highly disaggregated data available on consumer expenditures and energy-input¿output analyses of the U.S. economy. Emissions are estimated based on direct and embodied energy use at the household level. Social equity concerns are taken into account and the consequences of cap-and-trade policies are assessed by quantifying the extent to which the expenditure patterns of the poor are significantly more energy intensive than those of the rich. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This article proposes a multi-dimensional framework for understanding the development and effectiveness of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes, framed around the notions of institutional design, performance and interplay. The framework is applied in the context of Mexico''s Programme of Payments for Carbon, Biodiversity and Agro-forestry Services (PSA-CABSA), with an emphasis on its carbon component. The analysis shows that PSA-CABSA was promoted by civil society and its rules have been subject to continuous modifications over time. In the case of the carbon component, changes have been due to an original misunderstanding of how carbon projects should be designed, implemented, and carbon traded in actual markets. From a performance point of view, the paper shows that the programme has been well received by rural communities, and carbon payments have contributed to increase household income and to enhance forest management practices and organisational skills. The paper also highlights sources of institutional interplay with local institutions and international climate policy, and it reveals the importance of capacity and scale issues in securing an effective and fair implementation of PES. The conclusion provides some policy recommendations for the future development of PES initiatives in Mexico and elsewhere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Project Tiger has been India''s premier case of conservation success. Since mid 1990s select Project Tiger Reserves in India were chosen for intensive funding by the Global Environment Facility, the International Development Agency (IDA) and the Government of India under the ‘India Eco-Development Project’. This project marked a modest shift towards debt based funding. The GEF Project has become a benchmark for tiger conservation in India both in terms of management outcomes and scale and scope of funding. However in the absence of large-scale budgetary support or self-generating income flows, it becomes difficult for the GEF type of project to be replicated in other tiger reserves of the country. Debt instruments hold promise as enablers of conservation finance. The paper proposes issue of ‘tiger bonds’ to meet the financial requirements of tiger reserves. Though attractive as a debt instrument, a ‘tiger bond’ could nevertheless entail interest rate and default risks. Bioprospecting activities form good revenue sources for tiger reserves to pay off their debts. However bioprospecting activities do not provide assured returns to tiger reserves. Pharmaceutical companies that prospect for genetic resources and practice ‘real options’ approach to R&D investment planning, adopt multi-phased investment systems and sequential searches that gives them the flexibility to abandon R&D projects. From the point of view of genetic resource providing entities like Project Tiger Reserves, the ‘postponement value’ generated by real options, enables a drug company to tap substitutes for the genetic resources that form the subject matter of bioprospecting contracts. To obviate possible repayment risks by tiger reserves, the paper advocates the institution of ‘put bonds’ as a risk management tool for Project Tiger Reserves in order to hedge themselves against loan defaults arising from possible loss in bioprospecting income. The paper also brings out the mechanics of the issue of tiger bonds in the Indian context. It is argued that a put bond not only hedges default risks but would also aid ‘value discovery’ and payment for ecosystem services as far as the Project Tiger Reserves of India are concerned. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Swedish carnivore policy goal for the four large carnivores – wolverine (Gulo gulo), wolf (Canis lupus), brown bear (Ursus arctos) and lynx (Lynx lynx) – is to ensure a minimum viable population on a long-term basis. To reach this goal the policy restricts population regulation activities, like hunting (prohibited for wolverine and wolf and restricted for brown bear and lynx) in Sweden. For owners of semi-domesticated (i.e. reindeer), and domesticated (livestock) animals this policy and the existence of individuals of these four species results in externalities associated with predation. This paper presents econometric estimates of the predation and the social costs for these four species, based on ecological models of functional response. The data on costs is based on compensation provided to livestock owners by the Swedish government. The paper also applies these econometric estimates to predict the social cost per species when the population goals of the Swedish carnivore policy are reached. Based on out our model the wolverine and the lynx will impose the highest marginal, as well as total costs on society, given the current policy goals. The wolf is an efficient predator, but due to its geographical distribution in Sweden, its social costs are less than anticipated. The brown bear is largely omnivorous, thus resulting in relatively low social costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Game theory is rarely used to deal with the overuse and misuse of tourism resources. When it happens, the issue is normally explained within a non-cooperative setting in which, because of the free riding option, a problem emerges as the socially irrational outcome of an individually rational behaviour (social dilemma). In some cases, the assumptions upon which this explanation rests risk lacking both descriptive accuracy and predictive power. Since tourism is the encounter of a stable (residents) with a changing (tourists) population, the paper asserts that, in many cases, the issue may be better investigated within a strategic game in which the players do not know an aspect of their environment that is important for their choice (Bayesian game). Building on this, the paper demonstrates why an unsustainable path may emerge even when both players prefer preservation to exploitation and no free ride incentive exists. Then, it addresses some policy issues to prevent the dreaded result that non-cooperative behaviour would yield. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper demonstrates the development of the Ecological Footprint within a fuzzy environment. The approach taken provides a means to understand the impacts of imprecision and uncertainty in the input–output framework, which forms a cornerstone of many recently constructed Footprint estimates. The paper uses, as a basis, an example of Footprint construction presented in the paper of Bicknell et al. [Bicknell, K.B., Ball, R.J., Cullen, R., Bigsby, H.R., 1998. New methodology for the Ecological Footprint with an application to the New Zealand economy. Ecological Economics 27, 149–160]. The analysis considers levels of fuzziness surrounding the technical coefficients in the underlying input–output framework. The results presented fully exposit the effect of the defined analysis, including the presentation of; fuzzy sector Ecological Footprints and overall fuzzy Ecological Footprint. Accompanying these findings, the fuzzy versions of certain moments associated with these Footprints are also presented, namely possibilistic mean and variance. The findings contribute to the elucidation of the potential policy impacts afforded when acknowledging imprecision and uncertainty in the data used in estimating Ecological Footprints. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: To answer the question “How to be an Ecological Economist”, we must start by defining the field of Ecological Economics. Mainstream Economics altogether lacks the concepts required to deal adequately with nature, justice and time. It was the absence of these three concepts in this otherwise great social science that led to the establishment of Ecological Economics. The interest in nature, justice and time is its defining characteristic. The main thesis of this paper is that our field is a fragile institution and that the professional existence of an ecological economist is no less fragile. However, this very fragility also represents freedom, scope for free thinking, conceptualising and research. Nevertheless, to be able to really use and in turn enjoy the full scope of this freedom, an ecological economist needs certain specific characteristics, in particular what is termed in the German philosophical tradition “Urteilskraft” and in English “power of judgement”. A description of these characteristics is developed in this paper, providing an answer to the question “How to be an ecological economist?” [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Ecological economics is a major forum for discussion of theoretical and analytical aspects of measuring sustainability. The role of sustainability indicators as an evaluation method for sustainability within the emerging context of governance merits further analysis. Focusing on policy processes surrounding the production of sustainability indicators, this paper addresses two questions: what is the potential utility of indicators for policy; and in what ways can indicators influence governance? The former is addressed by exploring three disciplines with long histories of indicator application: public administration studies, urban studies and environmental sciences. The latter is addressed by distilling key perspectives from public policy literature on knowledge utilisation and policy learning, which become the foundation for clarifying the notion of policy-resonant indicators. This clarification is achieved by canvassing the spectrum of the influences on indicators and the mechanisms of their resonance in policy processes. The final section of the paper brings these arguments together by exploring two major insights in terms of challenges for ecological economics: strengthening indicator theory and practice by addressing four key ingredients; and mobilisation of indicators through their active use within the context of governance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper extends the IS–LM–EE framework first formulated by Heyes (Heyes, A., 2000. A proposal for the greening of textbook macro: ‘IS–LM–EE’. Ecol. Econ. 32, 1–7). In his model, exogenous fiscal or monetary shocks are needed so that the intersection of all three schedules is reached. Such independent adjustments are circumvented in this paper, which argues that a naturally adjusting process exists and formalizes this mechanism for the IS–LM–EE framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the concept of cultural capital and suggests a framework for assessing its influence in the management and use of natural capital. Cultural capital has been described as the underlying factors that provide human societies with the means and adaptations to maintain themselves in their environment. Sustainable development calls for a shift in the way in which natural capital is managed and used and much effort has gone into discussing and analysing the sustainable development process and mechanisms by which natural capital levels can be maintained. Cultural capital is an important, but much neglected, element in this process. There have been attempts to analyse the role of culture in development, but these have been few and isolated. This paper identifies three key areas in which cultural capital has influence: ‘management objectives’, ‘efficiency of process’ and ‘demand’. These three areas form the basis of an analysis framework, designed to assess the presence of various cultural traits with regard to the main functions of natural capital—the provision of: raw materials, sinks, environmental services and amenity services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The debate among ecologists on the optimal number of reserve sites under a fixed maximum total reserve area—the single large or several small (SLOSS) problem—has so far neglected the economic aspects of the problem. This paper argues that economic considerations can affect the optimal number and size of reserve sites and should therefore be taken into consideration in the SLOSS discussion. The paper presents a tractable analytical model to determine the socially optimal number of reserve sites to be allocated in a farming area under a fixed total reserve area, taking the opportunity costs of nature conservation (in this case, agricultural profits) into consideration. Furthermore, the effect of land trade and related transaction costs on the socially optimal number of reserve sites is analyzed. The analysis suggests that in the presence of diminishing returns to farming area, the socially optimal number of reserve sites (which maximizes social welfare) is generally larger than the ecologically optimal number (which maximizes an ecological objective such as population viability). When the opportunity costs of conservation can be offset by land transactions, however, the socially optimal number of reserve sites might be closer to the ecological optimum. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With sustainability issues currently attracting increasing political and policy attention, this paper examines the impact of the rise of ecological economics in the policy world and its potential influence on the decision-making process. This study emphasises that ecological economics development is coevolved with, and modified to fit, specific social, economic, political and cultural contexts. As a policy science, ecological economics is context-sensitive and action-oriented. Explaining why it is so, and what to do about it, has become imperative for ecological economists. This paper attempts to address the questions such as: What are the macroeconomic conditions and political processes that make the formulation and implementation of ecological economic policy possible? How should this alternative social reality engage with the dominant decision-making process? Does ecological economics provide the necessary means for prescribing policy measures to achieve sustainable development? Endeavouring to understand these dimensions of ecological economics has been a dynamic social process, and understanding this complex process might provide an opportunity to bridge the divide between policy rhetoric and reality in practice rather than maintain the status quo. In order to achieve an improved decision-making process on sustainability, it highlights the imperative to explicitly study the institutional setting through which sustainable development policy discourse is mediated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In a recent paper in this journal, embodied land appropriation in international trade activities was analysed using a physical input–output table (PIOT) (Ecological Economics 44 (2003) 137). The authors stated that there are significant differences between the physical and the monetary input–output tables in their results, which the authors argued to be due to the fact that the results from the monetary table are determined mainly by the monetary structure of final demand, while the structure of a physical table more closely resembles the ‘physical realities’ of an economy. In the present paper, it is argued that the methodological foundation that the authors based their analysis on is misleading and does not satisfy the overall material balance requirement. It is shown that the differences in the results between the monetary and physical tables presented by the authors have nothing to do with the resemblance to the physical realities. I also tried to further clarify a number of critical issues in applying physical input–output tables, related to double counting, treatment of wastes and the effect of closing the system toward direct material inputs. A number of consistent but different approaches to cope with these issues are presented, including their proofs. The embodied land appropriation of international trade activities is calculated and compared by applying those approaches. There are many advantages of using physical input–output tables, however, their superiority should not be exaggerated nor be regarded as absolute. Depending on how it is constructed and used, it is also possible that the results from a physical input–output table do not tell us more than that indeed some commodities are cheaper, or more costly, per unit of their mass. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

During the last decade, a series of valuation studies have made attempts at estimating the external environmental costs of various power generation sources. The purposes of this paper are: (a) to explore some of the ethical limits of the economic valuation of environmental impacts; and (b) to analyze what the implications are of these limits for the social choice between different electric power sources. Environmental valuation based on welfare economic theory builds on restrictive behavioral foundations and can only partly model moral values, although such values are an essential part of people''s preference towards the environment. In addition, public preferences are seldom exogenously given as is commonly assumed in economic theory, but are instead formed in public discourse. For this reason, the range of electricity externalities where economic valuation (and thus cost–benefit analysis) should be applied is likely to be narrower than often assumed. After analyzing the scope, methodology and the results of the so-called ExternE project, the paper concludes that many power generation externalities are either inherently ‘new’ or inherently ‘complex’. In these cases, the initial challenge lies not in ‘discovering’ private preferences, but in specifying the conditions for public discourse over common ways of understanding what the pertinent issues are about. This implies that research on the environmental externalities of power generation must, in addition to refining the theory and the applications of existing non-market valuation techniques, also address the instruments and content of political and moral debate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper is a first step towards articulating a Chinese version of ecological economics. Over the last decade ecological economics has attracted increasing attention in the West. Similarly, since the early 1980s scholars in China have undertaken specific research on existing ecological economic issues in accordance with Chinese political, economic, socio-cultural and ecological conditions. However, this endeavor is hardly known in the West and little attention has been given so far to the potential role of Chinese attitudes in the international ecological economics movement. This paper is designed to make up for that neglect and attempts to address the following questions: What social and cultural traditions are required for Chinese ecological economics to operate? What are the political and institutional implications of ecological economics in China? Will Chinese ecological economists feel comfortable in a society where open debate is viewed as unacceptable behavior? In order to clarify the Chinese interpretation of ecological economics and its impact on the policy-making process, a preliminary overview of its emerging background, evolutionary history, key viewpoints and theories, nature and policy influence is presented. Three major intellectual sources of Chinese ecological economics are identified and the theoretical applications are emphasized. Then, some theoretical and practical issues that may arise in future research are discussed, along with implications of Chinese ecological economics for the international community. In addition to biophysical functions and ecological conditions, socio-political structures and processes need to be explicitly addressed in extending the research agenda of ecological economics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The literature on the governance of social-ecological systems increasingly recognizes a key role of bridging organisations (BOs) in transition processes towards sustainability. BOs can be defined as facilitators who allow for interorganisational collaboration. Our paper provides a more nuanced understanding of specific BO activities and their contributions towards urban sustainability. Our analysis is based on applying three complementary methodological angles (drawing on geolocalised data, interviews and action research) to 20 years of urban renovation investments in the city-region of Brussels. We distinguish between multi-scale, multi-actor and multi-dimensional tensions in urban renovation programmes and link these tensions to bridging challenges for BOs. Results suggest that the corresponding three types of bridging roles form a trilemma rather than a trilogy: the BOs in study have mediated one tension by de facto exacerbating another. Lessons from action research suggest that a wider use of temporality and shared language to communicate about urban renovation projects could attenuate the bridging trilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]