Difference between revisions of "Category:Economics"

See also Globalization and Entrepreneurship

Consumption, Labor,

Sustainability

and Third World Development and Population

A range of ideas on economics exist, from Free Marketeers (an idea in ascendancy in the US for some time, though currently in disrepute), to social entrepreneurs (who seek to use markets to improve the lives of poor people, see the UCSC Atlas of Global Inequality and Gapminder to get some sense of this), to the idea of suicidal capitalism (the idea that growth for growth's sake on a finite planet will be catastrophic). One problem with relying on GDP to measure progress is that it leaves out important factor, so many prefer Genuine Progress Indicator.

NPR's Planet Money does an excellent job of clarifying economic issues (in fact they won a Pulizer Prize). They were ahead of the curve in their "Giant Pool of Money" that led to Great Recession, and continue to cover it. (audio podcasts)Transcript). See also The Grapes of Wrath page).

News, Articles and Reports

EDF: How we use economics to create and shape markets to reward cleaning up, not polluting. In California, EDF is quantifying the economic value of threatened ecosystems and finding investors, like utilities, who will benefit from their restoration. Our goal is to develop a national model for saving irreplaceable natural resources.

Feed in tariffs democratize energy creation, is helping Germany and China to take the lead in solar. 1/13.

World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, says we must spend $700 billion annually to wean ourselves off fossil fuels that have been linked to a rise in extreme weather-related disasters in recent yearsDavos world economic forum plan 1/13.

A new piece in Nature highlights emerging efforts at modeling the earth’s key ecosystems, in an effort to better inform policy decisions on issues like climate change and biodiversity conservation.

"The Women Who Were Right About the Economy" aka Great Recession 1/13.

Land and water grabs in developing Third World countries 1/13.

CRS/CBO study that shows rich are not job creators suppressed. See also CBO. 11/12.

GDP Cannot Capture the Economics of Climate Change; an alternative measure 7.12.

America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy article based on the book by Gus Speth (see below).

UN report on green jobs 6/12.

White paper on the importance of sustainable capitalism 3/12.

Study: Green economy lost fewer jobs in the recession 2/12.

Cleveland's Green, Large-Scale Co-Op Model Gains Steam In A Decaying Economy. The Evergreen model draws heavily on the experience of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in the Basque Country of Spain, the world's most successful large-scale cooperative effort (now employing 100,000 workers in an integrated network of more than 120 high-tech, industrial, service, construction, financial and other largely cooperatively owned businesses). BBC audio

The Rise of the New Economy Movement: Activists, theorists, organizations and ordinary citizens are rebuilding the American political-economic system from the ground up. ...The Evergreen Cooperatives in a desperately poor, predominantly black neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio are a leading example. They include a worker-owned solar installation and weatherization co-op; a state-of-the-art, industrial-scale commercial laundry in a LEED-Gold certified building that uses—and therefore has to heat—only around a third of the water of other laundries; and a soon-to-open large scale hydroponic greenhouse capable of producing three million head of lettuce and 300,000 pounds of herbs a year. 5/12

"Debunking myths about free-market environmentalism" 3/11

ECONOMICS IN A FULL WORLD By: Daly, Herman E., Scientific American, September 2005, Vol. 293, Issue 3

Prosperity without Growth? - The Transition to a Sustainable Economy (2009 report). Ahead of the G20 Summit in London, the report calls on leaders to adopt a 12-step plan to make the transition to a fair, sustainable, low-carbon economy.

Interactive/Infographics

Hans Rosling created Gapminder.org, video overview. 2009 TEDtalk

The Billion Dollar-o-gram puts it all in context.

"The State of Working America" by the Economic Policy Institute. (infographic).

Jobs in America (now and 1972).

Inequality stats/graphs 9/12.

UCSC's own Atlas of Global Inequality

People

(See also Eco-heroes)

Muhammad Yunus founder of the Grameen Bank, which makes micro-loans all over the world, empowering people in many ways, not least of which to give them the option on not exhausting their local habitats in order to survive in the short term. Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. His book.

Raj Patel writer, activist, academic and author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System is a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley. His more recent book on economics is The Value of Nothing first chapter and short video here, also covered in longer video and full talk (highly recommended) Commonwealth Club talk audio 1/10, (Realplayer)

Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs visits Google's Mountain View, CA, headquarters to discuss his book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet This event took place on April 9, 2008 Watch video. Audio interview with Jeffrey Sachs, an economist interested in ecological and social justice issues. 2011 Google talk on US.

James "Gus" Speth video "On a Post-Growth Society". American-style consumer capitalism is simply unsustainable, warns former White House adviser James Gustave Speth in his 2008 book, The Bridge at the Edge of the World. (video interview at UC Berzerkely) (another video on economy vs ecology). A co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Speth has been an environmentalist for more than three decades. Speth is dean and professor in the practice of environmental policy at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. audio interview.Gus Speth, elder environmental statesman, has grown ever more convinced that our politics and our economy are so corrupted, and the environmental movement so inadequate, that we can no longer hope to address the climate crisis, or our deep social ills, by working strictly within the system. The only remaining option, he argues in his forceful new book, America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy overview, (interview) 4/12video. Article overview.

Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman on why dealing with Global Warming will be good economically

Elinor Ostrom. In 2009, Ostrom became the first woman to receive the prestigious Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited Ostrom "for her analysis of economic governance," saying her work had demonstrated how common property could be successfully managed by groups using it.

Ray Anderson, founder of Interface carpets talks about (video) his book Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business By Respecting the Earth. Entrepreneur Ray Anderson visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his new book "Confessions of a Radical Industrialist." October 2009. His TEDtalk and book excerpt. interview.

Founder Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia makes some of the best, and most expensive outdoor gear in the world, but the company’s mission is bigger than simply maximizing profit. The mission is: “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” company profile. new music project. talk video. A great company to work for. See Social Entrepreneurs

Books

But Will the Planet Notice?: How Smart Economics can save the World by Gernot Wagner EDF holds that how smart economic policies can do much more than so many of the “green” behavioral modifications, lifestyle changes, that are so often championed by environmentalists. audio interview.

There is a growing body of economic research on the conflict between economic growth and sound climate policy, led by ecological economist Herman Daly at the University of Maryland (video, article), as well as Peter Victor at York University video, Tim Jackson, book, (video) of the University of Surrey, and environmental law and policy expert Gus Speth (see below).

World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse by Lester Brown (see eco-heroes) 2011 (video interview) 6/11

America Beyond Capitalism Professor Gar Alperovitz goes beyond capitalism with worker coops, public banks and local economies. video interview (part 2 includes Mondragon coop).

Charles Eisenstein, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition (Evolver, 2011). (videos).

A breakthrough in thinking… Sacred Economics explores time-tested and emerging concepts of the new economics, including local and negative interest currencies, resource-based economics, gift economies and the restoration of the commons.

Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution by Heather Rogers video interview.

Poor Economics addresses the pitfalls of current aid programs and advocates for a radical new approach to thinking about poverty. audio interview. 5/11

Gernot Wagner stops by Google Talks for a discussion about his latest book and editorial: "But Will the Planet Notice?" also video 11/11.

Excerpt from Jeremy Rifkin's The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World, Palgrave Macmillan 2011. excerpt 2 on education and politics etc). audio interview and book excerpt) KQED 10/11.

David Suzuki has a new book (audio interview) "a, brief, astonishingly readable and uplifting book called The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for our Sustainable Future."

What Environmentalists Need to Know about Economics Jason Scorse

In Green Gone Wrong "environmental writer Heather Rogers blasts through the marketing buzz of big corporations and asks a simple question: Do today’s much-touted "green" products—carbon offsets, organic food, biofuels, and eco-friendly cars and homes—really work? Implicit in efforts to go green is the promise that global warming can be stopped by swapping out dirty goods for "clean" ones. But can earth-friendly products really save the planet? This far-reaching, riveting narrative explores how the most readily available solutions to environmental crisis may be disastrously off the mark." Grist link/review

The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis By Jeremy Rifkin. Intro/ Excerpt. Overview

Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back by Douglas Rushkoff (video clip) Chapter One and subsequent chapters

The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability by Professor James Gustave Speth

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel C. Esty, Andrew S. Winston

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future amazon link by Bill McKibben

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins (see also eco-heroes), and L. Hunter Lovins (Back Bay Books, 1999). Its simple message—we can save the planet and make money at the same time—laid the blueprint for the 21st-century sustainability movement. Download free chapters. Here are several related videos. Overview McHenry Stacks HC106.82 .H39 1999.

Paul Hawken also wrote The Ecology of Commerce (1993). At last -- a business guru who talks about something other than fatter profits. A calm and illuminating discussion of how the economic order must adapt to environmental realities.

Prosperity without Growth Economics for a Finite Planet By Tim Jackson with forewords by Herman Daly, Bill McKibben, Mary Robinson and Pavan Sukhdev

Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications Herman E. Daly, Joshua Farley

Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science by Charles Wheelan. Said to be a lively and readable introduction to the subject.

The Vulnerable Planet : a short economic history of the environment / John Bellamy Foster S&E Stacks - GE140 .F68 1999

Joshua Karliner's book, The Corporate Planet: Ecology and Politics in the Age of Globalization (Sierra Club Books, 1997) is a good research tool for the impacts of corporate globalization.

Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism; some of the underlying myths of capitalism are summarized in a great TEDtalk by Klein on "Why We Are Addicted to Risk?" (includes the underlying myths that drive environmental and economic problems, in opposition to the Precautionary Principle).

In Why Nations Fail, a pair of economists argue that a lot comes down to politics. To research the book, the authors scoured the world for populations and geographic areas that are identical in all respects save one: they're on different sides of a border. The two Koreas are an extreme example. But you can see the same thing on the border of the US and Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and dozens of other neighboring countries. (audio).

Rules For Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services by Guy Kawasaki talk 2009 and Michele Moreno.

In Why Corporation 2020, Pavan Sukhdev examines the many critical planetary boundaries that we are approaching, from greenhouse gas emissions to the nitrogen cycle, freshwater and land use, and food security, and argues that sweeping changes are needed to reform the way we deal with the earth’s resources. Sukhdev makes an arresting case for including the private sector in these changes, arguing that a new corporate model is needed in the next decade to avert irreparable ecological harm. (free e-book).

Video

Sites:

Commonwealth Club:

Robert F. Kennedy argues that the solution to all environmental problems is a truly free market. 6/11 (See also Eco-heroes)

Capitalism in an Era of Climate Change Commonwealth Club panel discussion 4/11.

Economics of Good and Evil: In his best-selling books in the Czech Republic, former advisor to Vaclav Havel Sedlacek shows how economics is woven out of history, myth, religion and ethics. Come listen to a fascinating ride that will take you from the Epic of Gilgamesh through the Bible and the Greeks to today’s pop culture in film – a fresh look at economics as part of our culture.

LongNow:

Dmitry Orlov: Social Collapse Best Practices

Six Easy Steps to Avert the Collapse of Civilization 4/10.

TEDtalks:

Hans Rofling on poverty Amazing TEDtalk video.

TEDtalk by Paul Gilding, author of The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World. 3/12

Richard Wilkinson: How economic inequality harms societies (TEDtalk video).

Related Banned TED Talk by Seattle entrepreneur Nick Hanauer backstory. See also CRS/CBO study that corroborates also suppressed.

Jacqueline Novogratz tells a moving story of an encounter in a Nairobi slum with Jane, a former prostitute, whose dreams of escaping poverty, of becoming a doctor and of getting married were fulfilled in an unexpected way. patient capitalism TEDtalk video.

Rob Harmon: How the market can keep streams flowing TEDtalk 3/11.

Jacqueline Novogratz shares stories of how "patient capital" (microfinance, Africa) can bring sustainable jobs, goods, services -- and dignity -- to the world's poorest. TEDtalk video

Paul Collier’s book The Bottom Billion (an excerpt) shows what is happening to the poorest people in the world, and offers ideas for opening up opportunities to all.

Vinod Khosla Discusses Investments in Food: Faux Meat, Dairy-Free Cheese & More, the “legendary” investor Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, on how he approaches business and investments, including in the food+tech space. TechCrunch.

Other sources

Inside Job is a documentary about the financial crisis. Audio interview. See also Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?

Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use.

Mama Earth: EcoEcon 101 Another gloom and doom film? No! Quite the contrary, this film revels in innovation, invention and creativity. An inspiring road map of successful ways to achieve sustainability through reinventing old business methods and finding new paths to healthy communities, protecting natural resources and attaining a more profitable bottom line.

The Economics of Happiness shows how globalization breeds cultural self-rejection, competition and divisiveness; how it structurally promotes the growth of slums and urban sprawl; how it is decimating democracy. The second half of The Economics of Happiness provides not only inspiration, but practical solutions. Arguing that economic localization is a strategic solution multiplier that can solve our most serious problems, the film spells out the policy changes needed to enable local businesses to survive and prosper.

Hunter Lovins discusses why investing in greater sustainability in the best business strategy of the 21st century. UCTV.

Dirt cookies in Haiti.

The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being video. A number of problems with conventional economics include using GDP which does not include "externalities" like pollution (and in fact would count the cost of caring for someone unnecessarily made sick by it as a benefit). Here Bok takes the idea a bit further.

Recent films about the economy, American Casino (trailer) and Schmata (history of the garment industry) reviewed. (audio)

Van Jones "A New Green Deal" (see Eco-heroes).

Herman Daly, his classic book Beyond Growth Here is an essay"Can we grow our way to an environmentally sustainable world?" from his new book. "Ecological Economics FAQs" video

Green Collar jobs on PBS Now (video)

PBS News Hour segment on venture capital flowing to green businesses. 6/08

Naomi Klein author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" , video of talk given September 27, 2007. No Logo 2000. Both discussed in this video interview. Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism; some of the underlying myths of capitalism are summarized in a great TEDtalk by Klein on "Why We Are Addicted to Risk?" (includes the underlying myths that drive environmental and economic problems, in opposition to the Precautionary Principle).

The Authors@Google program welcomed Auden Schendler to discuss his book, "Getting Green Done". Auden Schendler is Executive Director of Community and Environmental Responsibility at Aspen Skiing Company, a pioneering green business in the U.S. He worked previously in corporate sustainability at Rocky Mountain Institute. Link.

At Yale Dr. Costanza explores how a cultural transition that respects biophysical boundaries and balances built, human, social and natural capital assets can create a sustainable and desirable future.Link

Audio

Nobel winning economist Joseph Stiglitz: The Price of Inequality ([audio talk 6/12/12). video interview

L. Hunter Lovins, President and Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions; Author, Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change. The time when businesses could operate without regard for their environmental impact is long past. Many companies now calculate their carbon footprint, minimize their packaging, switch to efficient energy sources wherever possible, and some even purchase carbon offsets. The U.S. is no longer in a race to the bottom with Asian manufacturing giants, but a race to sustainability and efficiency. Innovative companies are looking beyond the costs of climate change and toward business strategies that capitalize on new opportunities, innovate and spur economic growth. Time Magazine Hero of the Planet Lovins argues that moving aggressively to solve global warming, peak oil and weaknesses in our energy infrastructure will give us a stronger economy and higher quality of life. Get the inside scoop on sustainable approaches and what corporations of the present and future will need to do to remain competitive. 4/12/11 Link.

Cleveland's Green, Large-Scale Co-Op Model Gains Steam In A Decaying Economy. The Evergreen model draws heavily on the experience of the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in the Basque Country of Spain, the world's most successful large-scale cooperative effort (now employing 100,000 workers in an integrated network of more than 120 high-tech, industrial, service, construction, financial and other largely cooperatively owned businesses). BBC audio

Websites and Blogs

UCSC's own Atlas of Global Inequality

Environmental Economics

Corpwatch.org

Natural Capital Project is using these tools to integrate scientific and economic understanding of natural assets into real land-use and investment decisions.

World military expenditures 2008.

B Corporation are socially responsible and green co's.