Understanding Sustainability Economics

by Peter Soderbaum

This highly readable yet challenging book provides a critical examination of the failings of mainstream economics and the resultant environmental problems we are facing. Most importantly, it articulates what an alternative economics for sustainability would look like in both theory and practice. The book provides a brief history of economics and looks at the intersection between politics and the often hidden values embedded in economics. Also covered are the roles of individuals and organizations, political structures and institutions, democracy, environmental decision-making, sustainability assessment and a vision of a future underpinned by sustainability economics. A main point raised is that, in any serious attempt to come to grips with unsustainable trends, fundamental issues such as the theory of science, the role of science in society, paradigms in economics, ideological orientations and institutional arrangements need to be critically examined. The theory is supported by case studies, explanatory figures, further reading sections and discussion questions to facilitate debate and learning.

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2008

Reviews

[Mark Isaak · Rating 2 out of 5]

The prose in this book is a blend of academic economics jargon plus postmodernist woo. As a result, the positions Soderbaum promotes sound too complex and/or nebulous to be practical. He gives a few actual example of his ideas in practice, but only so briefly that they hardly buttress his arguments. If his aim was to convince people outside academia, I think this book qualifies as a failure. (Plus, his infatuation with initialisms is irritating, even if he does provide a decoder ring.)