Realist utopias? Green alternatives to capitalism
While environmental economists have argued that environmental problems can be measured and added to production costs to neatly ‘internalise’ otherwise hidden externalities, green economists are sceptical. Even Jonathon Porritt (2005) in a recent book which seems superficially to defend capitalism notes that our existing economic system is unsustainable and we need a rather different form of capitalism. Markets seem to have a built-in growth imperative; while markets evolve and the system becomes more ornate with finance capital including shares and hedge funds, a basic principle remains. In a market, access to goods and service is via money. To get money one has to sell a commodity; for most of us this is our labour. There is a tendency to monetise ever more areas of life: a rainforest can be sold to farmers to grow soya or made to make money through various forms of intensive cultivation. The principle of producing and consuming more and more for ever and ever seems economically vital yet ecologically suspect. One approach to dealing with this dilemma has been to invoke natural capitalism, looking at ways of producing more while using fewer resources. This approach may be aided by an economy which trades increasingly in knowledge. However the principle of an economy that can only survive with constant accumulation tends to build in an anti-ecological trend. If we can cut down a forest, sell the timber and then use the land cleared as a parking lot, this creates economic growth; if we leave it to the birds this does not facilitate accumulation. The growth imperative of capitalism has led to the search for alternative forms of economic regulation. Anti-capitalism from Marx and before has a lengthy history. To some state intervention seems a way of achieving an alternative economic system. I was intrigued to read in Andrew Simm’s interesting Ecological Debt (2005) book that while capitalism was unsustainable and needed to be transcended, the fact that the UK economy Environmental Politics, Vol. 16, No. 3, 518 – 522, June 2007
Capitalism as if the World Matters
Foreword by Amory B. Lovins. Acknowledgements. Introduction. Part 1: Our Unsustainable World. Conflicting Imperatives. Sustainable Development for Real. Re-engaging with Economic Growth. Unsustainable Capitalism? Through the Global Looking Glass. Part 2: A Framework for Sustainable Capitalism. The Five Capitals Framework. Natural Capital. Human Capital. Social Capital. Manufactured Capital. Financial Capital. Part 3: Better Lives in a Better World Confronting Denial. Changing the Metrics. Business Excellence. Civil Society. Visions and Values. Converging Imperatives. Index.
Did the metamorphosis from Export Processing Zones to Special Economic Zones improve the efficiency of trade enclaves in India?
In this paper, the efficiency of seven conventional Special Economic Zones in India is analyzed, by adopting a stochastic production frontier technique, for the period between 1986–1987 and 2007–2008.Results indicate that although the efficiency scores of these enclaves have improved over the years, specifically with the introduction of the SEZ policy (2000–2001), it is far below the threshold level as identified in the literature. Besides, one can also observe a discrepancy emerging between better export earning zones and efficient zones. On the determinants side, policy intervention and large geographical area, accompanied by clustering of units, are found to have impacted the efficiency scores of these enclaves positively.