The Economics of Non-Convex Ecosystems

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-v

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2. The Economics of Non-Convex Ecosystems: Introduction

   • Partha Dasgupta, Karl-Göran Mäler

   Pages 1-27

3. Scale and Scaling in Ecological and Economic Systems

   • Jérôme Chave, Simon Levin

   Pages 29-59

4. Convex Relationships in Ecosystems Containing Mixtures of Trees and Grass

   • R. J. Scholes

   Pages 61-76

5. Managing Systems with Non-convex Positive Feedback

   • W. A. Brock, D. Starrett

   Pages 77-104

6. The Economics of Shallow Lakes

   • Karl-Göran Mäler, Anastasios Xepapadeas, Aart De Zeeuw

   Pages 105-126

7. Multiple Species Boreal Forests - What Faustmann Missed

   • Anne-Sophie Crépin

   Pages 127-148

8. Evaluating Projects and Assessing Sustainable Development in Imperfect Economies

   • Kenneth J. Arrow, Partha Dasgupta, Karl-Göran Mäler

   Pages 149-187

9. Back Matter

   Pages 188-188

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Economists all too often assume that ecosystem and population dynamics are subject to convex (even linear) processes. However, research by ecosystem and population ecologists has shown that the processes in question are very often non-convex. This has important implications for environmental and resource economics. Typically, a system under study or being managed would contain multiple basins of attraction. So the system would flip from one basin to another if a "threshold" (mathematically, a bifurcation) were crossed. Furthermore, the flip could be irreversible. But even if it were reversible, the system could well display hysteresis. The latter eventuality means that in order to entice the system to return to its original basin of attraction, a different and possibly costly path has to be traced. A mistake in management may then be a lot more costly than envisaged. An example would be a possible flip of the Gulf Stream owing to fresh water intrusion from melting glaciers during global warming.

• Sustainable Development
• accounting prices
• development
• ecosystem
• imperfect economies
• irreversibility
• non-convexity
• optimization

• Faculty of Economics, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

  Partha Dasgupta

• Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

  Karl-Göran Mäler

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