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An entrepreneurial model of economic and environmental co-evolution

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  • Potts, Jason
  • Foster, John
  • Straton, Anna

Abstract

A basic tenet of ecological economics is that economic growth and development are ultimately constrained by environmental carrying capacities. It is from this basis that notions of a sustainable economy and of sustainable economic development emerge to undergird the "standard model" of ecological economics. However, the belief in "hard" environmental constraints may be obscuring the important role of the entrepreneur in the co-evolution of economic and environmental relations, and hence limiting or distorting the analytic focus of ecological economics and the range of policy options that are considered for sustainable economic development. This paper outlines a co-evolutionary model of the dynamics of economic and ecological systems as connected by entrepreneurial behaviour. We then discuss some of the key analytic and policy implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Potts, Jason & Foster, John & Straton, Anna, 2010. "An entrepreneurial model of economic and environmental co-evolution," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 375-383, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:70:y:2010:i:2:p:375-383
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    2. Foster, John, 2011. "Energy, aesthetics and knowledge in complex economic systems," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 88-100.
    3. Naudé, Wim, 2020. "From the Entrepreneurial to the Ossified Economy: Evidence, Explanations and a New Perspective," GLO Discussion Paper Series 539, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Anna Mazzi & Sara Toniolo & Alessandro Manzardo & Jingzheng Ren & Antonio Scipioni, 2016. "Exploring the Direction on the Environmental and Business Performance Relationship at the Firm Level. Lessons from a Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-25, November.
    5. Naudé, Wim, 2019. "The decline in entrepreneurship in the West: Is complexity ossifying the economy?," MERIT Working Papers 2019-030, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Canh Phuc Nguyen & Sangho Kim & Thanh Dinh Su, 2022. "The Nonlinear Relationship Between Entrepreneurship and Natural Resource Rents," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 31(3), pages 632-662, November.
    7. Christoph Heinzel, 2013. "Schumpeter and Georgescu-Roegen on the foundations of an evolutionary analysis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(2), pages 251-271.
    8. Timothy J. Foxon & Jonathan Köhler & Jonathan Michie & Christine Oughton, 2013. "Towards a new complexity economics for sustainability," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 187-208.
    9. Lee, Seung-Hyun & Peng, Mike W. & Song, Sangcheol, 2013. "Governments, entrepreneurs, and positive externalities: A real options perspective," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 333-347.

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