IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eujhet/v26y2019i6p1341-1378.html

Natural resources in the theory of production: the Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz controversy

Author

Listed:
  • Quentin Couix

Abstract

This paper provides a theoretical and methodological account of an important controversy between neoclassical resource economics and ecological economics from the early 1970s to the end of the 1990s. It shows that the assumption of unbounded resource productivity in the work of Solow and Stiglitz–and the related concepts of substitution and technical progress–rest on a model-based methodology. On the other hand, Georgescu-Roegen’s assumption of thermodynamic limits to production, later revived by Daly, comes from a methodology of interdisciplinary consistency. I conclude that neither side provided a definitive proof of its own claim because both face important conceptual issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Quentin Couix, 2019. "Natural resources in the theory of production: the Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz controversy," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 1341-1378, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:26:y:2019:i:6:p:1341-1378
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2019.1679210
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09672567.2019.1679210
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09672567.2019.1679210?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jérôme Hambye-Verbrugghen & Stefano Bianchini & Paul E Brockway & Emmanuel Aramendia & Matthew K Heun & Zeke Marshall, 2025. "From twin transition to twice the burden? Digitalisation, energy demand, and economic growth," Post-Print hal-05460038, HAL.
    2. Mohammad Al-Saidi, 2020. "From Economic to Extrinsic Values of Sustainable Energy: Prestige, Neo-Rentierism, and Geopolitics of the Energy Transition in the Arabian Peninsula," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    3. C. Cassen & Antoine Missemer, 2020. "Structuring Environmental and Development Economics in France: The CIRED Case (1968-1986) [La structuration de l'économie de l'environnement et du développement en France : le cas du CIRED (1968-1986)]," Post-Print halshs-02548876, HAL.
    4. Couix, Quentin, 2020. "Georgescu-Roegen's Flow-Fund Theory of Production in Retrospect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Hambye-Verbrugghen, Jérôme & Bianchini, Stefano & Brockway, Paul E. & Aramendia, Emmanuel & Heun, Matthew K. & Marshall, Zeke, 2026. "From twin transition to twice the burden? Digitalisation, energy demand, and economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    6. Abdulla, Kanat, 2021. "Regional convergence and structural transformation in a resource-dependent country," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 548-557.
    7. Parent, Baptiste & Mouysset, Lauriane & Missemer, Antoine & Levrel, Harold, 2024. "Building Integrated Models In Environmental And Natural Resource Economics: The Case Of Gordon’S 1954 Fishery Model," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 117-139, March.
    8. repec:hal:cesptp:hal-04872636 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Acurio Vásconez, Verónica & Pereira Henriques, Mónica, 2025. "Unraveling the interplay of substitution elasticities and the green energy rebound effect," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 717-725.
    10. Koji Tokimatsu & Rieko Yasuoka, 2025. "Improving wealth accounting and global sustainability assessment: assessing wealth benchmark estimates," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 72(1), pages 1-60, June.
    11. François Allisson & Antoine Missemer, 2020. "Some Historiographical Tools for the Study of Intellectual Legacies," Post-Print halshs-02931492, HAL.
    12. Éric Herbert & Gaël Giraud & Aurélie Louis-Napoléon & Christophe Goupil, 2023. "Macroeconomic dynamics in a finite world based on thermodynamic potential," Post-Print hal-04872636, HAL.
    13. Galychyn, Oleksandr, 2022. "Towards sustainable cities: A multi-criteria assessment framework for studying urban metabolism," MPRA Paper 121584, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 May 2022.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:26:y:2019:i:6:p:1341-1378. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REJH20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.