The Economic and the Political Sphere

Abstract

In this book I intend to develop norms for an ecologically successful economics. By an ecologically successful economics I mean a theory that has our economies as its domain of research and that is influential in the political arena in the sense that it helps political actors to find effective solutions for the problem of sustainability. My research project thus implicitly makes a distinction between the economic and the political sphere. The economic sphere is the domain about which economics is meant to provide us with knowledge. The political sphere is the domain in which economics is meant to be an influential factor. In the course of my research project I noticed that, within the community of economists, there is some disagreement about whether it is useful to distinguish between the political and the economic sphere or, in other words, to distinguish between economic and political (aspects of) human actions. In this chapter I will argue that this distinction can and should be made.