THE CHALLENGE OF ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS: HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND SOME SPECIFIC ISSUES

Abstract

In this paper author looks at economic system as a part (subsystem) of ecosystem. The nearer the subsystem approaches the total system in scale, the more it must become like the total system in its basic characteristics – finitude, nongrowth, material closure, and reliance on the flow of sunlight as its main energy source. The path of progress for the economy must shift from quantitative growth to qualitative development. It must enter a phase of sustainable development – qualitative improvement without quantitative expansion – a steady-state economy.