Ecological Economics Cheat Sheet
The core ideas of Ecological Economics distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.
Quick Reference
Natural Capital
The stock of natural resources and ecosystems that yields a flow of goods and services valuable to humans. Natural capital includes renewable resources (forests, fisheries), nonrenewable resources (fossil fuels, minerals), and ecosystem services (pollination, water purification). Ecological economists argue it is complementary to, not substitutable by, manufactured capital.
Ecosystem Services
The benefits humans obtain from ecosystems, categorized as provisioning (food, water), regulating (climate regulation, pollination), supporting (nutrient cycling, soil formation), and cultural (recreation, spiritual value). The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) found that 60% of global ecosystem services were being degraded or used unsustainably.
Steady-State Economy
An economy with a stable or mildly fluctuating level of production and population, maintained within the regenerative and assimilative capacities of the ecosystem. Proposed by Herman Daly as an alternative to the growth paradigm, it holds throughput constant while allowing qualitative development and improved efficiency.
Throughput
The flow of energy and materials from the environment through the economy and back to the environment as waste. Ecological economists measure throughput as the metabolic rate of the economic system and argue it must be kept within ecological carrying capacity.
Strong Sustainability
The principle that natural capital and manufactured capital are fundamentally complementary rather than interchangeable. This contrasts with weak sustainability, which assumes that depleted natural capital can be offset by increases in manufactured or human capital. Strong sustainability requires maintaining critical natural capital stocks intact.
Ecological Footprint
A measure of human demand on the biosphere expressed in global hectares of biologically productive land and water area required to produce the resources consumed and absorb the wastes generated. Developed by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees in the 1990s.
Entropy Law and Economics
Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen's application of the second law of thermodynamics to economic processes. All economic production transforms low-entropy resources (concentrated energy and materials) into high-entropy waste (dissipated heat and dispersed matter), making perpetual recycling physically impossible and setting ultimate limits on economic activity.
Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)
An alternative to GDP that adjusts personal consumption expenditures for factors such as income distribution inequality, costs of crime, environmental degradation, loss of leisure time, and the value of household work and volunteerism. Unlike GDP, GPI can decline even when economic output rises if social and environmental costs outweigh gains.
Commons and Common-Pool Resources
Resources that are rivalrous (one person's use diminishes availability for others) but non-excludable (difficult to prevent access). Ecological economists study governance institutions, following Elinor Ostrom's work, that enable communities to manage commons sustainably without privatization or top-down regulation.
Planetary Boundaries
A framework proposed by Johan Rockstrom and colleagues identifying nine Earth-system processes with quantitative boundaries within which humanity can safely operate. Crossing these boundaries risks triggering abrupt or irreversible environmental change. Ecological economics uses this framework to define the biophysical ceiling for economic activity.
Key Terms at a Glance
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