Nature in Economics

Nature has been ill-served by 20th century economics. When asked, economists acknowledge nature’s existence, but most would appear to deny that she is worth much. If ecologists worry about the contemporary nexus between population size (and growth), the standard of living, and the natural environment, we economists point to the accumulation of capital and technological progress and say Malthus got it wrong. In this paper I show by an appeal to theory that economics has been so badly misused, that it has deflected attention from deep problems at the nexus that are faced both regionally and globally. Text of the President’s introductory remarks at the proceedings of Section F (Economics) of the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) Festival of Science 2006, at the University of East Anglia, September 2006.