In recent years substantial progress has been achieved in the field of ecological economics for clarifying human-nature interrelations. The fundamental role of the lifesupport functions of the environment (Odum, 1975) for economic development and sustainability has entered from ecology into economics, and has started to be theoretically as well as empirically analyzed. This has, in part, given ...

During the past half century, theorizing about economic growth has forced economists to reconsider and revise the capital concept a number of times. This paper explores the analytical relationship between capital accumulation and economic growth, on the one hand, and the natural world, on the other. Section 1 sketches modern growth theory with an emphasis on whether or not the economy is seen a...

Extending the wealth accumulation model of Piketty and Zucman [2014] to include net depreciation in fossil fuels, minerals, and forests produces two key indicators: the net national saving rate adjusted for natural capital depreciation, and the ratio of this rate to long-run growth. These indicators are applied to eight rich economies over 1970–2013 and developing countries for 1979–2013. Where...

In-use stock of a product is the amount of the product in active use. In-use product stocks provide various functions or services on which we rely in our daily work and lives, and the concept of in-use product stock for industrial ecologists is similar to the concept of net manufactured capital stock for economists. This study estimates historical physical in-use stocks of 91 products and 9 pro...

Debate about the substitutability of manufactured, natural, human, and social capital is at the heart of sustainability theory. Sociology can contribute to this debate by examining the processes and mechanisms by which one form of capital is substituted for another. The authors examine the substitution among different forms of capitals at China’s Wolong Nature Reserve, where the consumption of ...

Abstract This article reconceptualizes natural capital. It categorizes capital into renewable and structural capital, argues for exclusion of nonrenewable (such as coal oil) from consideration a presents 10 guiding principles sustainable use Both tasks reconceptualizing identifying are inspired by Aldo Leopold’s land ethic.

Substitutability of natural capital by human-made would seem to be limited. When substitutes capital, there are currently commonly long-lasting negative impacts such substitutions on constituents capital. Long-lasting can considered at variance with justice between the generations. In view thereof, is a case define (environmental) sustainability as keeping intact for transferral future A major ...