Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival - Softcover

Prugh, Thomas; Costanza, Robert; Cumberland, John H.; Daly, Herman; Goodland, Robert; Norgaard, Richard B.

9781887490023: Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1887490027 ISBN 13: 9781887490023

Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc, 1995

Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival explains what natural capital is and does, and how it is threatened. It also proposes some revenue-neutral policy options that could restructure the economic system to encourage investment in natural capital. Such policies would work, in part, by properly valuing natural capital resources and services. By helping to "get the prices right," within the context of sustainable ecosystems and a fair distribution of resources, they would promote true economic efficiency, equity and sustainability.
Written by Washington area environmental writer Thomas Prugh and co-authored by several leaders of the ecological economics approach to environmental problems - Robert Costanza, John H. Cumberland, Herman Daly, Robert Goodland, and Richard B. Norgaard - Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival is part of a full-spectrum publishing project initiated by the International Society for Ecological Economics. The publications of ISEE deliver technical research to academic audiences, while also communicating ISEE's transdisciplinary efforts to policymakers and general readers through books such as Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival, textbooks, and executive summaries. Natural Capital and Human Economic Survival represents forward-thinking research, approaches, and solutions to environmental problems in an accessible, well-documented format. Readers and students who need more technical information are referred to ISEE's academic texts, Investing in Natural Capital and Introduction to Ecological Economics.

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From Booklist:

One need not be an ecofreak to see that environmental costs and benefits are ignored (or at least undervalued) in the calculus of classical and neoclassical economic theory. Prugh and his associates remedy this "bad accounting" by incorporating ecological concepts into a transdisciplinary approach that recognizes renewable and nonrenewable "natural capital" as an indispensable "life support" base for any economy. The authors contrast the assumptions and consequences of traditional economic analysis with those of an ecological economics perspective; define the nature, function, and value of natural capital; and then suggest a number of specific policy steps--including "green taxes," graded ecozoning, depletion taxes, and ecological tariffs. Such measures would reverse current incentive structures, encourage maintenance of an investment in natural capital, and "get the prices right" for our choices between sustainable and overexploitive use of the planet's limited natural capital. Clearly presented, with helpful charts, sidebars, glossary, and resource list. Mary Carroll

Review:

In this second edition, excellent insights into the fields of ecological and environmental economics are provided...very readable and understandable publication...recommended for all readers, the general public and up, with an interest in the environment.

-B.J. Peterson in Choice, December 1999

Sustainability is a widely accepted ideal for investigating and managing natural resources, but disciplined efforts to make its core principles operational are rare. This book is exceptional in developing a common, analytic framework and language for investigating how human institutions interact with ecological systems.

Sarah Michaels, School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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