As a society, we constantly hail growth as the mark of progress and solution to our problems, whether it be poverty or inequality. In doing so, we ignore that there are limits to growth and the ecosystem we live in has finite natural resources. In this episode we speak with Herman Daly, the dean of ecological economics, on his pioneering work on steady-state economy, based on the idea a constant population of people and a constant stock of physical wealth.

Professor Herman Daly is a pioneering figure in economics, at the forefront of the development of the field of ecological economics, ideas he has been working on for more than 50 years, in particular the idea of the steady state economy. Herman was Senior Economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank in the 1990s where he worked to develop key sustainable development policy guidelines. In 1996, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for “defining a path of ecological economics that integrates the key elements of ethics, quality of life, environment and community”-and a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize. He wrote Steady-State Economics in 1991 and edited the 1993 anthology, Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics (a revision of earlier anthologies).

The post Episode 75: Interview with Professor Herman Daly, the dean of ecological economics, on the Steady state economy appeared first on The Sustainability Agenda.