© Columbia University Press
The Wealth of Nature: How Mainstream Economics Has Failed the Environment
August, 2003
Cloth, 336 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-12798-1
$38.00
/ £26.00
"Of inputs, outputs, and invisible hands: a prolegomenon to a future economics that takes environmental costs fully into account . . . there's a new accountant in town, and he's counting megawatts and felled forests." — Kirkus Reviews
"This well-annotated, scholarly treatment of a dense subject is written in a lively style." — Publisher's Weekly
"The Wealth of Nature makes a convincing case that there is no logic in assuming that neoclassical economics can account for the environmental impacts of economic activities or indeed find economic solutions to environmental problems . . . The book has already been acclaimed as 'an important book on a critical issue' that will help readers to understand the weakness of much of the argument that surrounds conventional economic thinking." — J. N. R. Jeffers, International Journal of Sustainable Development
"A valuable and very timely book, one that should be read by anyone interested in economics and ecology in our rapidly changing global economy." — Dale Toweill, Science Books & Films
"...effective introductions to vitally important topics notoriously difficult to do justice to..." — Zoe Young, Times Literary Supplement (Economics)
"The connections he makes between economies and the natural sciences are as fascintating as they are inspired. His ideas are unique, packed with substance, and bundled together with persuasive arguments." — Todd Wellnitz, Ecology
"This author is to be applauded for...initiating what should be a new conciliatory dialogue on economics and the environment" — Christopher P. Dunn, Quarterly Review of Biology
"Just as the drawing together of the disciplines of biology and chemistry created a much needed hybrid science (biochemistry) a century ago, so (I think) will the needed joining of economics with biological ecology make a more powerful compound discipline. The Wealth of Nature promises to be a major force in this direction." — Garrett Hardin, author of "The Tragedy of the Commons"
"The big idea that unifies this intellectual history of modern economics is the problem of the Whole and the Part. Nadeau shows why mainstream neoclassical economics has gotten it wrong and how dissident ecological economists are getting it right. Clues to the right relation of Whole and Part are discovered in modern biology and physics, but neoclassical economists are still mired in weak analogies from nineteenth-century physics. An important book on a critical issue!" — Herman E. Daly, University of Maryland