The role of natural resources in production: Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz. Couix, Q. Technical Report Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, 2018.
abstract   bibtex   
This paper proposes a historical and epistemological account of one of the key controversy between natural resources economics and ecological economics, lasting from early 1970s to the end of 1990s. It shows that the theoretical disagreement on the scope of the economy’s dependence to natural resources, such as energy and minerals, has deep methodological roots. On one hand, Solow’s and Stiglitz’s works are built on a “modelbased methodology”, where the model precedes and supports the conceptual foundations of the theory and in particular the assumption of “unbounded resources productivity”. On the other hand, Georgescu-Roegen’s counter-assumption of “thermodynamic limits to production”, later revived by Daly, rests on a methodology of “interdisciplinary consistency” which considers thermodynamics as a relevant scientific referent for economic theory. While antagonistic, these two methodologies face similar issues regarding the conceptual foundations that arise from them, which is a source of confusion and of the difficult dialogue between paradigms.
@techreport{couix_role_2018,
	title = {The role of natural resources in production: {Georgescu}-{Roegen}/{Daly} versus {Solow}/{Stiglitz}},
	shorttitle = {The role of natural resources in production},
	abstract = {This paper proposes a historical and epistemological account of one of the key controversy
between natural resources economics and ecological economics, lasting from early
1970s to the end of 1990s. It shows that the theoretical disagreement on the scope of
the economy’s dependence to natural resources, such as energy and minerals, has deep
methodological roots. On one hand, Solow’s and Stiglitz’s works are built on a “modelbased
methodology”, where the model precedes and supports the conceptual foundations
of the theory and in particular the assumption of “unbounded resources productivity”.
On the other hand, Georgescu-Roegen’s counter-assumption of “thermodynamic limits
to production”, later revived by Daly, rests on a methodology of “interdisciplinary consistency”
which considers thermodynamics as a relevant scientific referent for economic
theory. While antagonistic, these two methodologies face similar issues regarding the conceptual
foundations that arise from them, which is a source of confusion and of the difficult
dialogue between paradigms.},
	institution = {Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne},
	author = {Couix, Quentin},
	year = {2018},
	keywords = {collapse, limits-to-growth},
	file = {Couix - 2018 - The role of natural resources in production Georg.pdf:C\:\\Users\\rsrs\\Documents\\Zotero Database\\storage\\UL3VCS2E\\Couix - 2018 - The role of natural resources in production Georg.pdf:application/pdf}
}

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