Economics for Rebels

Since the establishment of agricultural societies, humans have turned themselves into a super-organism that is now jeopardising not only its own existence but also the survival of many other species. Our capacity to organise ourselves, to divide labour, to even sacrifice individual gains for the benefits of humanity has trapped us in a system that is expansionary and full of co-dependencies. The jury is still out whether we can turn this around and once again become just one of the species that occupy this Earth. Today’s guest Lisi Krall explains us what ultrasociality is. Look out for her new book entitled Better harvest: Inquiry into the war between economy and the Earth coming out in Spring 2022.

Ecological economics is highly critical of mainstream economic thinking and provides new approaches and new solutions to how we could transform our world. However, currently millions of young economists leave their education without even the slightest chance of realising that what they had been offered is a mere indoctrination with mainstream ideas without real critical thinking or alternatives. Today’s guest is J. Christopher Proctor, and we talk about Rethinking Economics and other student movements that demand plurality in economics education.

Ecological economics is a field that historically evolved from discourses of people from many disciplines. Finally, ecologists and economists were in dialogue with each other on how to transform the world to respect planetary boundaries. Today’s guest Clive Spash argues, however, that “the importance of social, political, ethical and institutional factors is something which ecologists are not trained to detect, and economists are trained to neglect”. The way forward can only be social ecological economics where the necessity of human behavioural change is not overlooked. With Clive Spash we talk about humans, values, structures, institutions, politics, science and rebellions in social ecological economics.

Not extracting more resources than what Earth can sustainably provide means that our consumption patterns must also change. However, even common sense suggests that if we put caps on resource use, the question “who can use how much of what” will become pressing. Today’s guest is Beth Stratford, and we will talk about the necessity to diffuse rentier power and redistribute economic rents to mitigate threats of economic instability, inequality and insecurity that could otherwise arise from scaling down our consumption.

The relevance of Karl Polányi’s insights on social and economic transformation to ecological transformations has long been established. At the core of Polányi’s work were the processes that drive the relationship between state and market, namely commodification and decommodification, particularly the three fictitious commodities of land, labour and money. Understanding decommodification in the heart of the ecological crisis is of vital importance as no ecological sustainability can be achieved when commodifying nature, and no social sustainability is possible when commodifying humans. Today’s guest is Peadar Kirby and Logan Stranchock and we will talk about decommodification not just in theory but also in practice.

Ecological economics is about finding ways to transform our societies to move onto an environmentally and socially sustainable path. Many of the criticisms ecological economists express and the solutions they advocate can be rooted back to Karl Polanyi whose book The Great Transformation provided a well-argued case against mainstream economics already in the 1940s.  Today’s guests are Pedar Kirby and Logan Strenchock and we will talk about using Polányi’s insights for a sustainability transition.

We need to become true guardians of natural resources, while ensuring well-being for people. Let us accept for a moment that we know exactly what we should do in order to transit into an environmentally and socially more just economy. One of the most interesting question that follows is who is going to take the first step? Policy-makers and corporate leaders often point to individuals as consumers to make the right choice, while individuals expect decision-makers to free up avenues to be more conscious citizens. However, these decisions are socially constructed, constrained and institutions significantly influence them. This episode's guest is Arild Vatn, who talks to Alexandra Köves about environmental governance.

Ecological economics is about reducing economic throughput to stay within ecological boundaries. In our dominant mainstream thinking, what we produce, how and at what price is determined by market forces. In theory markets also influence our access to goods and services when determining our salary incomes through the labour market. Innovations are made available through the financial markets. Everything can be determined by supply and demand while none of these models take into account ecological impacts or social justice. When in ecological economics we introduce the concept of a finite planet, these models no longer work. What could replace them? Today’s guest is Louison Cahen-Fourot, and we will talk about ecological macroeconomics.

Ecological economics is about respecting ecological boundaries in human activities. Many argue that this simply cannot be done as humans always strive for more. However, with a different perspective on what living well means, energy and resource use could decrease to fit into Earth’s carrying capacity. That requires a change in mentality as well as a deeper understanding of justice. This episode’s guest is Julia Steinberger, and we talk about what it would mean for humankind to live well while respecting the nature's limited resources.

The first thoughts that we now consider the basics of ecological economics were published in the 70s. Over 50 years have passed and the concerns that were raised back then, are the concerns we all have today: facing ecological and social limits to growth. Today’s guest is Inge Røpke and we talk about what has happened in the last half a century in ecological economics. What are its basic premises and how did the field develop over time?