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  • © 2019

Economics of a Crowded Planet

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Provides a new conceptual framework to understand the relationship between human economy and nature
  • Combines ecological economics and complex systems theory
  • Shows how elements of mainstream economics can be integrated into a generative economics of the future

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiv
  2. Introduction

    • Fraser Murison Smith
    Pages 1-18
  3. Coevolution of the Economy and Nature

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
    2. Simple Physical Model of Nature and Economy

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 53-89
    3. Subsystem Model of the Economy

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 91-125
    4. Rationale for an Economics of a Crowded Planet

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 127-152
  4. Where Is Economics Now?

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153
    2. Economic Orthodoxy and Emerging Pluralism

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 155-190
    3. The Economics of Nature

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 191-230
    4. Conventional Economics on a Crowded Planet

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 231-272
  5. Where Does Economics Need to Be?

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 273-274
    2. Framework for an Economics of a Crowded Planet

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 275-313
    3. Requirements for a Future Economics

      • Fraser Murison Smith
      Pages 315-354
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 355-428

About this book

This book asks the question, how would economics look today and into the future if one started with a blank sheet of paper? Written mainly for a technical audience, yet accessible to the lay reader, Economics of a Crowded Planet addresses the ontology, epistemology and methodology of a future economics as if from outside the economy looking in. It presents a conceptual framework for a future economics drawing from systems science and hierarchy theory, integrating central concepts from present-day economics, so as to orient the field in a direction that can serve society’s future needs in practical ways. 

The exposition reveals a paradigm called ‘market planetarianism: the idea that the power of markets may be used to steer the economy toward a desired long-term goal.  Both a prescriptive doctrine and an economic methodology, it treats the economy and nature as instances of complex, evolutionary systems, demanding analytical tools quiteunlike those of the 20th-century mainstream.


Authors and Affiliations

  • San Rafael, USA

    Fraser Murison Smith

About the author

Fraser Murison Smith is an energy specialist in public utilities, formerly an information systems consultant and award-winning cleantech entrepreneur. After completing a PhD in theoretical ecology at Oxford University, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in ecological economics. He has published papers on fisheries, biodiversity and economic development, as well as a book, Environmental Sustainability: Practical Global Implications (1997). Fraser and his wife, a healthcare technology leader, share their home in Northern California with two wonderful young children and a canoe and tent on standby for spontaneous forays into the surrounding mountains, rivers and lakes.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Economics of a Crowded Planet

  • Authors: Fraser Murison Smith

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31798-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-31797-3Published: 22 November 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-31800-0Published: 22 November 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-31798-0Published: 08 November 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXIV, 428

  • Number of Illustrations: 64 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Environmental Economics, Climate Change, Environmental Policy, Economic Policy, Heterodox Economics

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access