A History of Ecological Economic Thought

200 Pages·2022·3.557 MB·English

by  Marco P. Vianna Franco, Antoine Missemer

A History of Ecological
Economic Thought
Contributing to a better understanding of contemporary issues of environmental
sustainability from a historical perspective, this book provides a cohesive and co-
gent account of the history of ecological economic thought. The work unearths
a diverse set of ideas within a Western and Slavic context, from the Renaissance
and the Enlightenment to the late 1940s, to reveal insights firmly grounded
in historiographical research and of import for addressing current sustainability
challenges, not least by means of improving our grasp on how humans and na-
ture can generously coexist in the long term.
The history of ecological economic thought offered in this volume is rich and
diverse, encompassing views that are bound by the observance of the tenets of the
natural sciences, but which differ significantly in terms of the role of energy and
materials to cultural development and the normative aspects involving resource
distribution, social ideals, and policy-making. Combining the approaches of in-
dependent scholarly figures and scientific communities from different historical
periods and nationalities, the book brings elements that are still missing in the
scarce literature on the history of ecological economic thought and highlights
the underlying threads which unite such initiatives.
The book brings a fresh look into the historical development of ecological
economic ideas and will therefore be of great interest to scholars and students of
ecological economics, environmental economics, sustainability science, interdis-
ciplinary studies, and history of economic thought.
Marco P. Vianna Franco is a postdoctoral fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Insti-
tute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Klosterneuburg, Austria, and holds
a PhD in economics from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Cedeplar/
UFMG) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He works in the fields of ecological econom-
ics and history of economic thought with a focus on human–nature relations
from the perspectives of political economy, intellectual history, and philosophy
of science.
Antoine Missemer is a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific
Research (CNRS) and a member of the International Research Centre on the
Environment and Development (CIRED) in Paris, France. He holds a PhD in
economics from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and the University of
Lyon, France. His research mainly deals with the history of environmental, eco-
logical, energy, and natural resource economics.
Routledge Studies in Ecological Economics
Post-growth Economics and Society
Exploring the Paths of a Social and Ecological Transition
Edited by Isabelle Cassiers, Kevin Maréchal and Dominique Méda
Economics of Feeding the Hungry
Sustainable Intensification and Sustainable Food Security
Noel Russell
Physical Limits to Economic Growth
Perspectives of Economic, Social, and Complexity Science
Edited by Roberto Burlando and Angelo Tartaglia
Feminist Political Ecology and the Economics of Care
In Search of Economic Alternatives
Edited by Christine Bauhardt and Wendy Harcourt
Anarchism and Ecological Economics
A Political Platform for Ecological Economics
Ove Daniel Jakobsen
Water Resources and Economic Processes
Edited by Tiziano Distefano
The Degrowth Alternative
A Path to Address our Environmental Crisis?
Diana Stuart, Ryan Gunderson and Brian Petersen
A History of Ecological Economic Thought
Marco P. Vianna Franco and Antoine Missemer
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
series/RSEE
A History of Ecological
Economic Thought
Marco P. Vianna Franco and
Antoine Missemer
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Marco P. Vianna Franco and Antoine Missemer
The right of Marco P. Vianna Franco and Antoine Missemer to be
identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vianna Franco, Marco P., author. | Missemer, Antoine, author.
Title: A history of ecological economic thought / Marco P. Vianna
Franco and Antoine Missemer.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY:
Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge studies in ecological
economics | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022004909 (print) | LCCN 2022004910 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Environmental economics—History. |
Sustainable development—History.
Classification: LCC HC79.E5 V534 2023 (print) | LCC HC79.E5
(ebook) | DDC 333.709—dc23/eng/20220204
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004909
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004910
ISBN: 978-0-367-36392-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-31074-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-34562-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429345623
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
1 Natural History, Botanical Gardens, and Political Economy 13
2 Economic Development in German Naturphilosophie 25
3 Chemistry and Agriculture Reconsidered 34
4 Narodnik Ecological Utopianism 46
5 Early Austro-German Social Energetics 59
6 Conservation and Economic Ornithology 76
7 The Other Austrian Economics 91
8 Evolutionary Biology and the Science of Consumption 101
9 Early Soviet Ecology 116
10 Land Economics and Land Ethic 129
Epilogue 143
Bibliography 153
Index 183

Acknowledgements
Despite the contingencies one might anticipate when writing a book, it
turned out to be a rather smooth process. This would not have been possible
if not for the material and financial support of our research institutions, re-
spectively the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research
(KLI) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). In
a world of aggravating environmental, economic, and more recently health
conditions, we have been fortunate to be able to carry out such work.
The availability of primary materials has been critical for the success of our
inquiries. In this respect, we are grateful to the following institutions: Öster-
reichische Nationalbibliothek, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Bibliothek der
Arbeiterkammer Wien, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, Bibliothèque Nation-
ale de France, Aldo Leopold Foundation, University of Wisconsin- Madison
Libraries, École des Ponts ParisTech, University of Strasbourg L ibraries,
Russian Foundation for Humanities, State Public Historical Library of
Russia, Maksim Moshkov Library, and the Russian National Library.
Parts of the book have been presented in seminars and conferences, when
we had the chance to draw feedback and reflect on different questions. They
took place during the Cedeplar/UFMG Diamantina Seminar (August 2019);
at the University of Lausanne (September 2020); during the ‘Ecology of Eco-
nomic Thought’ online workshop (January-February 2021); at the Univer-
sity of Geneva (April 2021); at the KLI Vienna (October 2021); during the
Journées de l’économie in Lyon (November 2021); during the 14th online Meet-
ing of the Brazilian Society for Ecological Economics (November 2021); at
the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (December 2021);
and at CIRED Paris (December 2021). We are grateful to those who attended
these events for their insightful comments and discussions.
We also benefited from the invaluable support from colleagues as well as
their kind dedication to testing and confronting our ideas. Special thanks to
Çınla Akdere, Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque, François Allisson, Frédéri-
que Bordignon, Guido Caniglia, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Hugo da Gama
Cerqueira, Quentin Couix, Marine Dhermy-Mairal, C. Tyler DesRoches,
Christian Dorninger, Paul H. Erickson, Gilbert Faccarello, Ludovic Frobert,
David Gasparotto, Cameron Hu, Jennifer Jhun, Raimundo de Sousa Leal
viii Acknowledgements
Filho, Harold Levrel, Sven-Eric Liedman, Alexander Linsbichler, Joan Mar-
tinez-Alier, Denis Melnik, Lauriane Mouysset, Julia Nordblad, Thiago
Dumont Oliveira, João Antonio de Paula, Carine Peresse-Gourbil, Beatriz
Macchione Saes, Pierre de Saint-Phalle, Isabella Sarto-Jackson, Scott Scheall,
Matthias Schmelzer, Tone Smith-Spash, Clive Spash, Carlos E. Suprinyak,
Marco Treven, Jacob Weger, and Douglas Weiner. At last, we would like to
acknowledge the trust and active role played by Andy Humphries, our editor,
in bringing this book to life.
m.
or
erst
d
n
u
h
T
a
er
aft
s,
ett
s
u
h
ac
ss
a
M
n,
o
pt
m
a
h
ort
N
e,
k
o
y
ol
H
nt
u
o
M
m
o
w fr
e
Vi
6),
3
8
1
e (
ol
C
s
a
m
o
h
T