ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS AND ECOLOGICAL DARWINISM

Abstract

The paper assesses the ecological approach which challenges the standard concept of scarcity in both neoclassical economics and neo-Darwinian orthodoxy. The focus is on comparative theory analysis with regards to the relevance of matter/energy influx. It should not be surprising, in light of the mathematical structure, that the ideas of optimization of utility in orthodox economics and optimization of fitness in mainstream biology are based on common assumptions. One of the assumptions is that environmental resources are given or exist passively in relation to the actor. Otherwise, the mathematical maximization functions would not be feasible. The orthodox assumption of resources as given for a specific population of firms or organisms need not deny that the environment continuously changes, but the assumption entails that such changes are by-products of the interaction of the population with the environment, the interference of other populations, and other exogenous factors. Thus, the orthodox assumption of resources as given, according to the ecological school, excludes, at first approximation, endogenous factors in the explanation of environmental dynamics or the economy-environment nexus. Inspired by Alfred Lotka's work, the ecological agenda in economics (as led by Daly and Costanza) and in biology (as advocated by Odum, Wicken, Depew, Weber, and Ulanowicz) advance the same alternative to the orthodox axiom concerning resources; viz., resources are a function of the active agent. While such an alternative is very fruitful, it does not go far enough. It has limitations: In economics, the ecological approach generally cannot solve the long-term problem of the asymmetric exchange between human economy and the environment. In the life sciences, the ecological approach, as far as it adheres to reformed Darwinism, faces difficulties with regards to the concepts of organization and the process of development/evolution. These problems call for similar conceptual innovations in both disciplines.