The approach of Ecological Economics has fascinated me for its incredibly rich framework that speaks to everything. After feeling dissatisfied with mainstream methods of teaching finance and economics, I was unable to move forward in its study because I did not believe in its perspective as a whole. On the other hand, the worldview of EE actually spoke to me and resonated with my mind and heart.
Herman E. Daly is considered the founding father of EE. In the textbook, Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications he writes that "This book is not a textbook in the above sense because ecological economics is not a discipline nor does it aspire to become one. We call it a transdiscipline for lack of a better term."
A truly complete list of all ecological economists is not possible because the field has no official membership roster and includes economists, systems ecologists, political economists, environmental economists, degrowth scholars, bioeconomists and sustainability researchers whose inclusion is sometimes debated.
However, the following is a very comprehensive list of the major figures that are widely recognized as ecological economists or as foundational contributors to ecological economics.
Next to certain names, I have written (CLEE) which stands for Central Lineage of Ecological Economics, meaning that they are very important figures to the framework. They are classified under the groups of Foundational and Proto Ecological Economists, First Generation of Ecological Economists, Second Generation (1980s–2000s), Degrowth and Contemporary Ecological Economists and Other Significant Scholars.
Foundational and Proto Ecological Economists & Opponents
These include figures that were actually not writing from the perspective of EE, but were greatly influential in mainstream economics. Their work is important to understand to be able to present the counter.
Francois Quesnay (d. 1774)- Earliest pioneer of biophysical economics. Founded French physiocratic school, idea that the economy is a circular flow of wealth, bound by natural laws and ecological thresholds.
Victor de Riqueti, Marquis de Mirabeau (d. 1789)- Part of the same school, considered the earliest intellectual precursors to ecological economics.
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817)- French economist of the school.
Adam Smith (d. 1790)- Father of modern economics, his foundational texts overlooked environmental dimensions.
David Ricardo (d. 1823)- One of the most influential classical economists.
Thomas Malthus (d. 1834)- Wrote on population growth, English economist.
Karl Marx (d. 1883)- German economist, socialist.
John Stuart Mill (d. 1873)- English economist
William Jevons (d. 1882)- English economist
Patrick Geddes (d. 1932)- Scottish biologist, pioneering town planner, known for urban planning, sociology
Carl Menger (d. 1921)- Austrian economist, marginal theory of value
Léon Walras (d. 1910)- French economist, Georgist
Alfred Marshall (d. 1924)- English economist, one of the most influential of his time
Herbert Spencer (d. 1903)- English sociologist, biologist
Sergei Podolinsky (d. 1891)- Ukrainian sociologist, early pioneer of ecological economics. He set out to reconcile socialist thought with the second law of thermodynamics by synthesising the approaches of Marx, Darwin and Sadi Carnot.
Otto Neurath (d. 1945)- Austrian born economist, considered one of the neglected geniuses of the 20th century. Celebrated early pioneer of EE.
Wilhelm Ostwald (d. 1932)- German chemist, precursor to EE with his philosophical framework of energetics to explain all phenomena through the laws of energy
Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923)- He ignores the physical limits of the planet
Arthur Cecil Pigou (1877–1959)- Father of welfare economics, architect of the concept of externalities. He gave the primary economic tools used to address pollution. EE considers his framework a necessary first step.
Sadi Carnot (1796–1832)- Monumental figure for EE by his pioneering work in thermodynamics, ground work for the second law of thermodynamics which is entropy.
Rudolf Clausius (1822–1888)- One of the most important scientific pillars of EE, coined the term entropy
Alfred Lotka (1880–1949)- Intellectual bridge of natural sciences and EE, work in mathematical biophysics
Leslie A. White (1900–1975)- Human cultural evolution is determined by per capita capture, control of energy
Walter Cottrell (1903–1979)- Wrote Energy and Society
M. King Hubbert (1903–1989)- Hubbert Peak Theory, proving fossil fuel extraction follows a finite bell curve
Eugene Ayres (1900–1970)- Wrote Energy Sources: The Wealth of the World (1952), warning of global fossil fuel exhaustion, urging transition to solar power
Frederick Soddy (d. 1956) (CLEE)- Chemist, spoke on illusion of limitless exponential growth
Lewis Mumford (d. 1990)- Critiqued industrial capitalist Megamachine for separating human technology from biological and organic limits
Karl Polanyi (1886-1964)- Said modern capitalism disembeds economy from social and natural environments, commodifying land, labor, money
Karl Kapp (d. 1976) (CLEE)- Proves social costs are when capitalism artificially lowers costs by shifting environmental damages, human healthy hazards onto society
Kenneth Boulding (d. 1993) (CLEE)- Wrote The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth, for transition from reckless cowboy economy to finite spaceman economy
Eugene P. Odum (1913–2002)- Co founded modern ecology, wanted holistic ecosystem management, human economies are subsystems of global biosphere
E.J. Mishan (1917–2014)- wrote The Costs of Economic Growth, pioneering critique of GDP
Wassily Leontief (1905–1999)- Expanded input-output analysis to track physical flows of resources, pollution
E.F. Schumacher (1911–1977)- Wrote Small is Beautiful, championed localized economics, appropriate technology, to treat nature as irreplaceable capital
S.V. Ciriacy-Wantrup (1909–1984)- Groundwork for resource conservation with concept of a safe minimum standard to avoid tipping points
Howard T. Odum (1924–2002) (CLEE)- Pioneered systems ecology, Emergy analysis
Elisabeth C. Odum (1924–2014)- Partnered with HT Odum to translate systems ecology into practical economic modeling, educational tools
Jay Forrester (1918–2016)- Invented system dynamics, map feedback loops
C.S. Holling (1930–2019)- Concept of ecological resilience, adaptive cycles, disproving neoclassical assumptions of static environmental stability, predictable market equilibrium
Robert U. Ayres (b. 1932)- Industrial metabolism, about inevitable waste pollution of physical inputs
Nicholas Roegen (d. 1994) (CLEE)- Intellectual grandfather of ecological economics
Herman Daly (d. 2022) (CLEE)- undisputed "founding father" of ecological economics, Mainstream economist turned ecological pioneer, formalized steady state economy, defined biophysical boundaries to stop uneconomic growth
Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012)- How local communities successfully shared natural resources without state, market privatization
David Pimentel (1925–2023)- Empirical energy audits on agriculture, proving modern industrialized farming consumed far more fossil fuel energy than it yields in food calories
Donella H. Meadows (1941–2001)- Wrote Limits to Growth (1972) report, warned that exponential industrial, population growth would cause global overshoot, collapse
Kenneth Arrow (d. 2017)- Worked with EE to prove, market prices fail to reflect irreversible ecosystem thresholds, carrying capacities
Barry Commoner (d. 2012)- Four Laws of Ecology was formulated by him
First Generation of Ecological Economists
Robert Goodland (1939–2013)- WB’s first environmental advisor, environmental impact assessment and advanced sustainability
John B Cobb Jr (d. 2024)- Theologian, co created ISEW with Herman Daly, integrating ethics and resource depletion into wealth metrics
Murray Bookchin (d. 2006)- Founded social ecology, focused on social hierarchies, capitalist domination
Rene Passet (d. 2024)- Bioeconomist, formalized nested systems model, that economy is subsystem restricted by human society which is a subsystem restricted by biosphere
Joan Alier (1939-Present) (CLEE)- Founded political ecology, had Environmentalism of the Poor analyzing how global trade forces Global South to bear biophysical deficit of pollution, resource extraction
Sylvio Funtowicz (b. 1946)- Developed Post Normal Science with Jerry Ravetz, framework for EE when facts are uncertain, unknown and decisions are urgent
AnnMari Jansson (1934-Present)- And Mats Jansson were Swedish, bridged ecology and economics, founded International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) after historic 1982 Saltsjobaden meeting
Mats Jansson (1935-Present)-
Gretchen Daily (b. 1964)- Quantified global biodiversity valuation, ecosystem services, scientific frameworks to integrate natural capital into mainstream decision making
Jerry Ravetz (b. 1929)-
Arild Vatn (b. 1950)- Institutional economist, challenged individualistic market prices
Malte Faber (b. 1938)- Integrated intertemporal physics, philosophy into economics, modelled long term environmental degradation
John Bellamy Foster (b. 1953)- Marxist ecological theory of Metabolic Rift, how capitalism disrupts the vital nutrient cycles between human societies and the soil
David Harvey (b. 1935)- Marxist geographer, critiqued capitalist accumulation relentlessly colonizing, degrading geographical space
John Peet (1937-Present)- New Zealand pioneer, challenged neoclassical growth metrics
Roefie Hueting (b. 1929)- Dutch economist, invented SNI (Sustainable National Income), correcting GDP
David Pearce (d. 2005)- Leading EE, incentivizing corporations and governments to protect natural capital by market valuation, cost benefit analysis
Clive Spash (1962-Present) (CLEE)- Prominent radical EE, critiqued pricing of carbon markets, ecosystem services, called for non monetary institutional changes instead
John Proops (d. 2006)- Formalizing mathematical methods in EE
Richard Norgaard (1948-Present) (CLEE)- Developed The coevolutionary framework
Robert Costanza (1950-Present) (CLEE)- Founded ISEE as well, estimated global value of ecosystem services, bringing natural capital into mainstream discourse
Paul R Ehrlich (1932-Present)- Wrote The Population Bomb
Garrett Hardin (d. 2003)- Wrote The Tragedy of the Commons,
Second Generation (1980s–2000s)
Bruce Hannon (1938–2019)- Physical ecology
Dennis Meadows (b. 1942) and Jørgen Randers (b. 1945) wrote Limits to Growth, tracked ecological limits
Peter A Victor (1947-Present)- Macroeconomic models proving to remove GDP
Richard Howarth (1950-Present)- Overlapping generations model in EE
Marina Kowalski (1954-Present) and Helmut Haberl (1961-Present)- Socio Ecological Metabolism approach, quantified HANPP, measured solar energy
Marian Chertow (1954-Present)- Cornerstone thinker of industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis
Carl Folke (1955-Present)- Stockholm Resilience Centre, SES (Social Economic Systems) framework
Stephen Polasky (1958-Present)- Bridged ecology and economics
William E Rees (1943-Present) and Mathis Wackernagel (1962-Present) co created the Ecological Footprint, metric to calculate the total biologically productive land and sea area required to sustain a given human population’s consumption
Charles AS Hall (1943-Present) and Cutler Cleveland (1952-Present)- Formalized EROI metric
Roldan Muradian (1971-Present)- Critiqued purely financial motivations for conservation
David Stern- Debunked Environmental Kuznets Curve with advanced econometrics
Inge Ropke (1950-Present)- Leading historian of EE, chronicles the field’s evolution
Molly Scott Cato (1963-Present)- Green economist, calls for bioregionalism, cooperative finance, community owned currencies to insulate economies from global growth mandates
John Gowdy (1954-Present)- Integrates evolutionary biology, behavioral economics
Tim Jackson (1957-Present)- Wrote Prosperity Without Growth
Richard Heinberg (1950-Present)- Wrote on post carbon transitions, to downscale infrastructure as global fossil energy quality declines
Juliet Schor (b. 1955)- Explores consumerism, overproduction
Brian Czech (1963-Present)- Founded CASSE
Johan Rockström (b. 1965)- Led team that established the Planetary Boundaries framework, with nine global biophysical thresholds which must not be crossed by humanity
Sandrine Dixson-Declève (b. ca. 1964)- Club of rome, system wide transformations in food,e energy, financial models
Joshua Farley (1968-Present) (CLEE)- Governance of common pool resources, public goods, modeling non market, cooperative networks
Lorenzo Fioramonti (b. ca. 1974)- Italian minister, critiqued obsession with GDP, calls for a well being economy
Ida Kubiszewski (1977-Present)- GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator) researcher, critiques GDP
Éloi Laurent (b. ca. 1974)- Social Ecological approach
Erik Baggethun (1978-Present)- Warns of commodification of nature
Jeroen van den Bergh (1965-Present) (CLEE)- A-growth (growth agnosticism), ignore GDP and focus on climate targets and social metrics
Martin O’Connor (1950-Present)- Integrates social philosophy and thermodynamics
Tom Tietenberg (1942-Present)-
Partha Dasgupta (1942-Present)- Wrote landmark UK Dasgupta Review, integrated biodiversity into accounting, framing nature as asset portfolio management
Geoffrey Heal (1944-Present)- - Neoclassical environmental economist
Mick Common and Charles Perrings- Created educational curriculums in EE
Degrowth and Contemporary Ecological Economists
Serge Latouche (1940-Present)- French philosopher, pioneered modern decroissance (degrowth), build downscaled society
Jason Hickel (1982-Present) (CLEE)- Wrote Less is More, empirical data to prove that absolute decoupling of GDP from resource use is a myth, advocated for planned reduction of energy/material throughput in wealthy nations
Kate Raworth (1970-Present) (CLEE)- Created Dougnut Economics, framework
Julia Steinberger (1974-Present)- Living Well Within Limits
Daniel O’Neill (1973-Present)- Steady state macroeconomics researcher
Vasilis Kostakis (1981-Present)- Cosmolocalism, a degrowth model
Kohei Saito (1987-Present) (CLEE)- Articulated degrowth communism
Yamina Saheb (1964-Present)- IPCC lead author, introduced Sufficiency into mainstream climate policy
Andreas Malm (1977-Present)- Fossil Capitalism
Jon D. Erickson (b. ca. 1966)- Wrote Progress Until Progress Hurts, prominent educator
Giorgos Kallis (1972-Present) (CLEE) and Filka Sekulova (b. ca. 1982) and Federico Demaria (1980-Present)- Core Barcelona school collaborators, defined degrowth as a multi dimensional project with psychological, economic and institutional applications
Other Significant Scholars
Richard York (1971-Present)- Paperless Office Paradox, Jevons Paradox in energy, problem in renewable energy options
James Boyce (1950-Present)- Environmental degradation is rooted in power imbalances
Peter Soderbaum (1938-Present) (CLEE)- Ecological Economics Institutionalism
Fikret Berkes (1949-Present) and Oran Young (1944-Present)- Governance scholars, how local communities use traditional knowledge for changing marine and arctic ecosystems
Klaus Hubacek (1967-Present)- Consumption choices
Karl Goran Maler (d. 2020) Robert Solow (d. 2023)- Solow talked on weak sustainability, argued that human made capital can perfectly substitute for exhausted natural resources, a viewpoint sparking the foundational debates in modern EE
David Fleming (d. 2010)- Created TEQs (Tradable Energy Quotas), to ration and reduce carbon fuel consumption
Ted Trainer (1941-Present) and Samuel Alexander (1980-Present)- Australian pioneers of The Simpler Way, designing voluntary simplicity movements, with very low material footprints
Haydn Washington (d. 2022)- Environmental scientist, exposed the psychological, political roots of ecological denialism, called for ecocentric shift in science, economics, religion
Richard Douthwaite (d. 2011)- Wrote The Growth Illusion
John Michael Greer (1962-Present)- Archdruid and systems author, wrote on Catabolic Collapse of civilizations, predicted a slow decline of industrial societies as resource costs eclipse system maintenance capabilities
References
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