O'Neill, DW (2015) What should be held steady in a steady-state economy? Interpreting Daly's definition at the national level. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 19 (4). 552 - 563. ISSN 1088-1980
Abstract
Within this article, I investigate a number of the conceptual issues that arise when attempting to translate Herman Daly's definition of a steady-state economy (SSE) into a set of national biophysical indicators. Although Daly's definition gives a high-level view of what would be held steady in an SSE, it also leaves many questions unanswered. How should stocks and flows be aggregated? What is the role of international trade? How should nonrenewable resources be treated? And where does natural capital fit in? To help answer these questions, I relate Daly's definition to key concepts and terminology from material and energy flow accounting. I explore topics such as aggregation, international trade, the relevance of throughput, and hidden flows. I conclude that a set of biophysical accounts for an SSE should include three types of indicators (stocks, flows, and scale), track how stocks and flows are changing over a 5- to 10-year period, use aggregated data that measure the quantity of resource use (rather than its quality), measure both total and nonrenewable resource use, adopt a consumption-based approach, include hidden flows, and exclude indicators that measure characteristics of the stock of natural capital (with the notable exception of indicators that measure the regenerative and assimilative capacities of ecosystems).
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 by Yale University. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: O'Neill, D. W. (2015), What Should Be Held Steady in a Steady-State Economy?: Interpreting Daly's Definition at the National Level. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 19: 552–563. doi: 10.1111/jiec.12224, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12224. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving. |
Keywords: | degrowth; industrial ecology; material flow accounting; social metabolism; steady-state economy; throughput |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 09 Oct 2015 10:33 |
Last Modified: | 08 Mar 2016 18:13 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12224 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/jiec.12224 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:88669 |