Neo class economics treats capital and labor as describing our wealth, but energy is completely absent. Just a barrel of oil does around five years of yours or my physical work. We've underpaid for the main input to our economies for over a century. But from an ecological economic standpoint or a biophysical economic standpoint, energy cannot be substituted by anything other than energy,.
On this episode, we meet with ecological economist and professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, Herman Daly.
Daly discusses the biophysical underpinnings of human economies, and how a social system that is more tethered to our ecological reality might come into being.
Daly explains how the transformation from classical economics to neoclassical economics created an understanding of the world that prioritized utility and money above all else. How did neoclassical economics contribute to our current predicament?
Further, Daly explores what he believes to be the best-case scenario humans face in the next decade.
About Herman Daly
Herman Daly is Professor Emeritus of economics at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, former senior economist at the World Bank, and a founder of the field of ecological economics. He is the author of For The Common Good, Valuing the Earth, the textbook Ecological Economics, and many other books, essays, and academic papers
For Show Notes and Transcript visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/06-herman-daly