Abstract
The word “convexity” is ubiquitous in economics, but absent from economics. In this paper we explain why, and show what difference it makes to economic analysis if ecosystem non-convexities are taken seriously. A simple proof is provided of the connection between “self-similarity” and “power laws”. We also provide an introduction to each of the papers in the Symposium and draw out the way in which they form a linked set of contributions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arrow, K. J. (1971), ‘Political and Economic Evaluation of Social Effects of Externalities’, in M. Intriligator, ed., Frontiers of Quantitative Economics 1. Amsterdam: North Holland.
Arrow, K. J., B. Bolin, R. Costanza, P. Dasgupta, C. Folke, C. S. Holling, B.-O. Jansson, S. Levin, K.-G. Mäler, C. Perrings and D. Pimentel (1995), ‘Economic Growth, Carrying Capacity, and the Environment’, Science 268(5210), 520–521.
Arrow, K. J., P. Dasgupta and K.-G. Mäler (2003), ‘The Genuine Saving Criterion and the Value of Population’, Economic Theory 21(2), 217–225.
Baumol, W. M. and W. Oates (1975), The Theory of Environmental Policy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Bhattacharya, R. and M. Majumdar (2003), Random Dynamical Systems, Mimeo. New York: Department of Economics, Cornell University, Forthcoming, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Brock, W. A. and A. G. Malliaris (1989), Differential Equations, Stability and Chaos in Dynamic Economies. Amsterdam: North Holland.
Brock, W. A. and D. A. Starrett (2003), ‘Non-Convexities in Ecological Management Problems’, Environmental and Resource Economics 26, 575–602.
Chave, J. and S. Levin (2003), ‘Scale and Scaling in Ecological and Economic Systems’, Environmental and Resource Economics 26, 527–557.
Cropper, M. L. and C. Griffiths (1994), ‘The Interaction of Population Growth and Environmental Quality’, American Economic Review 84(Papers & Proceedings), 250–254.
Dasgupta, P. (1982), The Control of Resources. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Dasgupta, P. (1993), An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dasgupta, P. (1997), ‘Nutritional Status, the Capacity for Work and Poverty Traps’, Journal of Econometrics 77(1), 5–38.
Dasgupta, P. (2000), ‘Population, Resources, and Poverty: An Exploration of Reproductive and Environmental Externalities’, Population and Development Review 26(4), 643–689.
Dasgupta, P. (2001a), ‘On Population and Resources: Reply’, Population and Development Review 26(4), 748–754.
Dasgupta, P. (2001b), Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dasgupta, P. (2003), ‘World Poverty: Causes and Pathways’, in B. Pleskovic and N. H. Stern, eds., Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics 2003. Washington, DC: World Bank, Forthcoming, 2004.
Dasgupta, P., S. A. Levin and J. Lubchenco (2000), ‘Economic Pathways to Ecological Sustainability’, BioScience 50(4), 339–345.
Dasgupta, P. and K.-G. Mäler (2000), ‘Net National Product, Wealth, and Social Well-Being’, Environment and Development Economics 5(1), 69–93.
Dasgupta, P. and D. Ray (1986), ‘Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment, 1: Theory’, Economic Journal 96(4), 1011–1034.
Dasgupta, P. and D. Ray (1987), ‘Inequality as a Determinant of Malnutrition and Unemployment, 2: Policy’, Economic Journal 97(1), 177–188.
Debreu, G. (1959), Theory of Value. New York: John Wiley.
Fogel, R. W. (1994), ‘Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy’, American Economic Review 84(3), 369–395.
Fogel, R. W. (1999), ‘Catching Up with the Economy’, American Economic Review 89(1), 1–19.
Fugita, M., P. Krugman and A. Venables (1999), The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and International Trade. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Grossman, G. M. and A. B. Krueger (1995), ‘Economic Growth and the Environment’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 110(2), 353–377.
Gunderson, L. and C. S. Holling (2002), Panarchy. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Hardin, G. (1968), ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’, Science 162, 1243–1248.
Harrison, G. A. and J. C. Waterlow, eds. (1990), Diet and Disease in Traditional and Developing Countries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Heal, G. M. (1998), Valuing the Future: Economic Theory and Sustainability. New York: Columbia University Press.
Johansson, P.-O. and K.-G. Löfgren (1985), The Economics of Forestry and Natural Resources. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Johnson, D. Gale (2000), ‘Population, Food, and Knowledge’, American Economic Review 90(1), 1–14.
Johnson, D. Gale (2001), ‘On Population and Resources: A Comment’, Population and Development Review 27(4), 739–747.
Jones, C. I. (1998), Introduction to Economic Growth. New York: W.W. Norton.
Kamien, M. I. and N. L. Schwartz (1991), Dynamic Optimization. Amsterdam: North Holland.
Keeler, E., A. M. Spence and R. Zeckhauser (1972), ‘The Optimal Control of Pollution’, Journal of Economic Theory 4(1), 19–34.
Kneese, A. V., R. U. Ayers and R. C. d’Arge (1972), Economics and the Environment: A Materials Balance Approach. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.
Koopmans, T. C. (1957), ‘The Price System and the Allocation of Resources’, in T. C. Koopmans, ed., Three Essays on the State of Economic Science. New York: McGraw Hill.
Kremer, M. (1993), ‘Population Growth and Technological Change: One Million B.C. to 1990’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 108(3), 681–716.
Kurz, M. (1968), ‘Optimal Economic Growth and Wealth Effects’, International Economic Review 9(3), 348–357.
Levin, S. (1999), Fragile Dominion: Complexity and the Commons. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.
Levin, S. A., S. Barrett, S. Aniyar, W. Baumol, C. Bliss, B. Bolin, P. Dasgupta, P. Ehrlich, C. Folke, I.-M. Gren, C. S. Holling, A.-M. Jansson, B.-O. Jansson, K.-G. Mäler, D. Martin, C. Perrings and E. Sheshinsky (1998), ‘Resilience in Natural and Socioeconomic Systems’, Environment and Development Economics 3(2), 222–235.
Ludwig, D., D. D. Jones and C. S. Holling (1978), ‘Qualitative Analysis of Insect Outbreak Systems: The Spruce Budworm and Forest’, Journal of Animal Ecology 47, 315–332.
Lutz, E., ed. (1993), Toward Improved Accounting for the Environment. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Maddison, A. (2001), The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective. Paris: OECD, Development Research Centre.
Majumdar, M. and T. Mitra (1982), ‘Intertemporal Allocation With a Non-Convex Technology: The Aggregated Framework’, Journal of Economic Theory 27(1), 101–136.
Majumdar, M., T. Mitra and K. Nishimura, eds. (2000), Optimization and Chaos. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Mäler, K.-G. (1974), Environmental Economics: A Theoretical Enquiry. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
May, R. M. (1975), Stability and Complexity in Model Ecosystems, 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
May, R. M. (1989), ‘How Many Species?’, in L. Friday and R. Laskey, eds., The Fragile Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Murray, J. D. (1993), Mathematical Biology. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Pastor, J. and D. J. Mladenoff (1992), ‘The Southern Boreal-Northern Hardwood Forest Border’, in H. H. Shugart, R. Leemans and G. B. Bonan, eds., A System Analysis of the Global Boreal Forest. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Pearce, D. and G. Atkinson (1993), ‘Capital Theory and the Measurement of Sustainable Development: An Indicator of Weak Sustainability’, Ecological Economics 8(1), 103–108.
Perrings, C., K.-G. Mäler, C. Folke, C. S. Holling and B.-O. Jansson, eds. (1995), Biodiversity Loss: Economic and Ecological Issues. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rahmstorf, S. (1995), ‘Bifurcations of the Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation in Response to the Change in the Hydrological Cycle’, Nature 378, 145–149.
Rahmstorf, S. (2002), ‘Ocean Circulation and Climate During the Past 120,000 Years’, Nature 419(6903), 207–214.
Scheffer, M. (1997), The Ecology of Shallow Lakes. New York: Chapman Hall.
Scholes, R. J. (2003), ‘Convex Relationship in Ecosystems Containing Mixtures of Trees and Grass’, Environmental and Resource Economics 26, 559–574.
Scrimshaw, N. C. et al. (1968), Interactions of Nutrition and Infection. Geneva: WHO.
Skiba, A. K. (1978), ‘Optimal Growth with a Convex-Concave Production Function’, Econometrica 46(3), 527–540.
Spurr, G. B. (1988), ‘Marginal Malnutrition in Childhood: Implications for Adult Work Capacity and Productivity’, in K. J. Collins and D. F. Roberts, eds., Capacity for Work in the Tropics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Spurr, G. B. (1990), ‘The Impact of Chronic Undernutrition on Physical Work Capacity and Daily Energy Expenditure’, in G. A. Harrison and J. C. Waterlow, eds., Diet and Disease in Traditional and Developing Countries. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Starrett, D. A. (1972), ‘Fundamental Non-Convexities in the Theory of Externalities’, Journal of Economic Theory 4(1), 180–199.
Starrett, D. (1973), ‘A Note on Externalities and the Core’, Econometrica 41(1), 179–183.
Tirole, J. (1993), The Theory of Industial Organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
van Andel, T H. (1994), New Views on an Old Planet: A History of Global Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wagener, F. O. O. (2003), ‘Skiba Points and Heteroclinic Bifurcations, with Applications to the Shallow Lake System’, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 27(9), 1533–1561.
Weitzman, M. L. (2000), ‘The Linearized Hamiltonian as Comprehensive NDP’, Environment and Development Economics 5(1), 55–68.
WHO (1983), Measuring Change in Nutritional Status. Geneva: World Health Organization.
WHO (1985), Energy and Protein Requirements. Geneva: World Health Organization, Technical Report Series 724.
World Bank (1992), World Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dasgupta, P., Mäler, KG. (2004). The Economics of Non-Convex Ecosystems: Introduction. In: Dasgupta, P., Mäler, KG. (eds) The Economics of Non-Convex Ecosystems. The Economics of Non-Market Goods and Resources, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2515-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2515-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1864-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2515-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive