Diapositiva 1

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TRANSDICIPLINARY ECONOMICS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Manfred A. MAX-NEEF
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Postulates for a Transdisciplinary Economics for
Sustainability.

• The economy is to serve the people and not the
  people to serve the economy.
• Development is about people and not about
  objects.
• Growth is not the same as development and
  development does not necessarily require growth.
• No economy is possible in the absence of the
  ecosystems services.
• The economy is a subsystem of a larger and finite
  system, the biosphere, hence permanent growth is
  impossible.

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VALUE PRINCIPLE FOR A TRANSDISCIPLINARY
ECONOMICS FOR SUSTAINABILITY.
6. Under no circunstances whatsoever can an
economic process, or interest, be above the
reverence of life.
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• The economy is to serve the people and not the
  people to serve the economy
• a) Labour Market Flexibility
• b) Race to the Bottom
• c) Slavery XXI Century

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2. Development is about people and not about
objets. Macroeconomic Indicators are not
about people.
HUMAN SCALE DEVELOPMENT
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Human Scale Development (HSD) compels us to
perceive and assess the world, that is people and
their processes, in a new and different manner.
When is a developmental process better than
another? Macroeconomics accounting and
indicators. Development is equivalent to growth
of GDP That development process is best, where
quality of life increases the most.
What determines peoples quality of
life? Quaility of life depends on the
possibilities people have to adequately satisfy
their FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN NEEDS
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Which are the Fundamental Human Needs? The
generalized belief is that human needs tend to be
infinite and changing over time, cultures and
spaces which is a conceptual error that does not
explicitly distinguish between NEEDS on the one
hand, and SATISFIERS for those needs, on the
other. Fundamental Human Needs are finite, few
and classifiable. They are invariat, that is,
the same in all cultures and in all historical
periods. What changes are the ways or means by
which the needs are satisfied.
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SATISFIERS The ways or means to satisfy a need
are the SATISFIERS that change over time and
through cultural, political and economical
systems. NEEDS can be classified according to
two criteria
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NEEDS (Ontological)
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NEEDS (Axiological)
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NEEDS Matrix
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SATISFIERS can be of five different kinds
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Violators or Destroyers
Violators or destroyers are elements of a
paradoxical nature. When applied with the
intention of satisfying a given need, not only do
they annihilate the possibility of its
satisfaction over time but they also impair the
adequate satisfaction of other needs. These
satisfiers seem to be related to the need of
PROTECTION
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Pseudo Satisfiers
Pseudo- Satisfiers are elements that generate a
false sense of satisfaction of a given need.
Although not endowed with the aggressiveness of
violators and destroyers, they may in occasions
annul, the possibility of satisfying the need
they were originally aimed at fulfilling.
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Inhibiting Satisfiers
Inhibiting Satisfiers are those that generally
oversatisfy a given need, therefore seriously
curtailing the possibility of satisfying other
needs.
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Singular Satisfiers
Singular Satisfiers are those that satisfy one
particular need. In regard to the satisfaction of
other needs, they are neutral.
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Synergic Satisfiers
Synergic Satisfiers are those which, by the way
they satisfy a given need, simultaneously
contribute to the satisfaction of other needs.
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The matrix of needs and satisfieres allows for
the reinterpretation of several concepts. Among
them, the concept of POVERTY.
Reinterpretation of the concept of POVERTY There
are many poverties any fundamental human need
that is not adequately satisfied reveals a human
poverty
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But poverties are not only poverties. Each
poverty, if intense and prolongued, generates
pathologies which, on occasions, exceed the
individual, and become collective pathologies.
They are generated by the systematical hindrance
of the satisfaction of fundamental human
needs Pathologies are not economic problems, they
affect the whole of society. THE UNDERSTANDING
OF COLLECTIVE PATHOLOGIES REQUIRES
TRANSDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND ACTION
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3. Growth is not the same as development and
development does not necessarily require growth.
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Values and life satisfaction Among college and
university students worldwide, those who report
high life satisfaction give priority to love over
money
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Does money buy happiness? While buying power has
increase more than twice since the 1950s, the
average of Americans reported happiness has
remained almost unchanged
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How is succes measured in conventional economics?
An economy is considered to be successful when
purchasing power and consumption increase

• Classical economic indicator GDP
• It determines
• Decision making
• Policy making
• Investment plans

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GDP C Y Ge X - I

• Deficiencies of the indicator
• It does not include
• Depreciation of natural capital
• The value of not remunerated activities
• The activities of the INVISIBLE SECTORS
• Compensatory and defensive expenditures are
  added not subtracted

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GROWTH IS NOT EQUIVALENT TO DEVELOPMENT
This hypotesis became robust as a consequence of
a number of country studies.
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US GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTION (GDP) versus
GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR (GPI). 1950-1997
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Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW)
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• Costs of unemployment
• Costs of underemployment
• Costs of overwork
• Private defensive expenditure on health and
  education
• Value of advertising
• Costs of commuting
• Costs of noise pollution
• Costs of transport accidents
• Costs of industrial accidents
• Costs of irrigation water use
• Costs of urban water pollution
• Costs of air pollution
• Costs of land degradation
• Costs of loss of native forests
• Costs of depletion of non-renewable energy
  resources
• Costs of climate change
• Costs of ozone depletion
• Costs of crime
• Costs of problem gambling

• Personal consumption
• Income distribution
• Public consumption expenditure
• Value of household and community work
• Services of public capital
• Net capital growth
• Net foreign lending

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AN EMBLEMATIC CASE OF NEGATIVE CORRELATION
BETWEEN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE
IRELANDS UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH THE CELTIC CANCER
From, Elizabeth Cullen, Unprecedented Growth,
for whose Benefit?
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4. No economy is possible in the absence of the
ecosystems services. 5. The economy is a
subsystem of a larger and finite system, the
biosphere, hence permanent growth is impossible.
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CLASSIC APPROACH TO THE ECONOMIC PROCESS
Circular flow of money in a closed system that
does not have relations with the environment and
ignores the physical consequences of economic
activity.
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ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS APPROACH
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• The biosphere delivers to the economy
• The supply of energy and materials
• The capacity to absorb residues
• The maintenance of biodiversity
• THE ECONOMY DEPENDS ON THESE FUNCTIONS
• The economy affects the biosphere
• Producing
• Dispersed energy
• Degraded materials
• Pollution and residues

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SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS
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How much do we need from the earth? How much do
we have?
Ecological Footprint Analysis measures the amount
of renewable and non-renewable ecologically
productive land area required to support the
resource demands and absorb the wastes of a given
population or specific activities.
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Footprint tracks the consumption and waste
patterns of individuals, communities, businesses,
and nations, and has rigorously shown that we
overuse our planets natural capital by up to 25.
Each person has a budget of 1.8 ha.
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What is the situation of Latin America?
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PERSONAL ENERGY BUDGET
The critical value of anthropogenic manipulation
per unity of time and space, is 14 /- 2
GJ/Km2/día 160/- 20Kw/km2 0.16 W/m2 Amount
that should not be exceed. It can be deduced
that The limits of the earths resilience to
human manipulation amounts approximately to a
power equivalent of 9 Terawatt-yr/yr, which
corresponds to about 20 of the total sun energy
that reaches the continental biosystems.
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Personal energy budget equation
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ECOSON Ecoson the amount of exosomatic energy
necessary for a person to have an adequate
quality of life without impeding the
possibilities for others to achieve the same. 1
ecoson 1.5 kw/h/pp or 1 ecoson 13.000
kw/h/yr/pp
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WORLD POPULATION, PER CAPITA INCOME AND AMOUNT OF
ECOSONS.
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WHAT, IF WE ALL LIVE LIKE AMERICANS?
ECOlogical PerSON
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CONCLUSION
GLOBAL ENERGY BUDGET 6 billons Ecosons
GLOBAL ENERGY COMSUMPTION 8 billons Ecosons
ENERGY OVERSHOOT 34
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Value principle for a transdisciplinary economy
6. Under no circunstances whatsoever can an
economic process or interest be above the
reverence of life.
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