Herman Daly

Herman Daly ( Edward Herman Daly, * 1938) is an American professor at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park in the United States.

Life and work

He was from 1988 to 1994 Senior Economist in the Environment Department of the World Bank, where he helped to design policies to sustainable development. During his tenure there, he was also involved for environmental projects in Latin America. In 1994, he resigned.

Before Daly went to the World Bank, he was 20 years Alumni Professor of Economics at Louisiana State University. He is co-founder of the International Society for Ecological Economics and the journal Ecological Economics, where he also worked as an editor.

His interests include economic development, population, resources, ecological management, sustainability management, the preservation of the environment and the emergence of a " steady state economy" ( steady state economy). These diverse interests have led Daly to equally diverse publications. He wrote hundreds of articles and numerous books with which he pursued among others, two lines (see publications):

  • In several times (sometimes under different titles) newly published anthologies he united essays by other authors to the basic theme of "Stationary economy." Besides, many essays have been retained or revised, some replaced by others.
  • Development of the theory of ecological economics as a transdisciplinary economics.

He sharply criticized optimistic futurologists such as Julian L. Simon, who believe that technological progress is a lack of natural resources could always compensate.

Together with the theologian John B. Cobb, Jr., he is co-author of the book For the Common Good (1989; 1994), for which he received the Grawemeyer Award, which is awarded as in this case for ideas on a better world order.

Daly was in 1996 awarded the Honorary Right Livelihood Award and the Heineken Prize for Environmental Science from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1999 he was awarded the Sophie Prize for his environmental work. In 2002, the Presidential Medal of the Republic of Italy, he was awarded for his work on the economics of equilibrium. In 2008 he was the Canadian magazine Adbusters chose the person of the year.

Daly has written management rules of sustainability.

Daly's concept of a stationary economy ( steady state economy)

Herman Daly is the founder and until today the most important representative of a model of a " steady state economy". This ideal of a stationary economy is theoretically between economic growth and the shrinking economy.

He characterizes stationary economy as follows:

  • Human economies limit to a level that is within the carrying capacity of the earth and is therefore sustainable: main principle. Once the carrying capacity of the earth is reached, both population and an average standard of living must be defined (measured as per capita consumption of resources ) at a sustainable level. The question of scale (in terms of material throughput of the human economy ) is the focal point of his theory.
  • Technological progress is to increase the efficiency of material instead of material throughput. These require technological change would be achieved through a limitation of resource consumption.
  • Renewable resources should be used only to the extent, as they can be replenished. This applies to both extraction (agriculture, hunting, fishing, etc.) and waste emissions.
  • Non-renewable resources should be exploited to the extent further, such as renewable alternatives are created.

Daly's approach is market-oriented principle, which concerns the allocation, however, be sure fundamental political questions to be clarified: the of the scale and distribution. For both of these applies: First determine the scale, as this will generally been free resources scarce economic goods. That raises the question of ownership, that is a question of distribution.

Publications

Anthologies as editor:

  • Toward a Steady - State Economy WH Freeman and Company, 1973
  • Economics, Ecology, Ethics. Essays Toward a Steady - State Economy in 1980
  • With Kenneth N. Townsend: Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics MIT Press, 1993

Development of the theory of ecological economics:

  • Steady - State Economics Iceland Press, 1977 (Chapter 5: A Catechism of Growth Fallacies ), 2nd Edition, 1991
  • Beyond growth. The economics of sustainable development Beacon Press, 1996 German under the title: economy beyond growth. The economics of sustainable development. Pustet, Salzburg / Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7025-0375-7

Other Publications:

  • With John B. Cobb Jr.: For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment and a Sustainable Future. Beacon Press, 1989
  • With Robert Goodland & Salah El Serafy (eds.): Population, Technology and Lifestyle. 1992
  • Uneconomic growth in theory and in fact. In: Feasta Review. 1, 1999 (PDF, 316 KB)
  • Ecological Economics and the Ecology of Economics. 1999
  • Economics in a Full World. In: Scientific American. September 2005, pp. 100-107 (PDF, 1.15 MB )
  • Ecological Economics and Sustainable Development. Selected Essays. 2008
  • Economics blind spot is a disaster for the planet. In: New Scientist. October 15, 2008
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