Pluralist Economics for a Sustainable Economic Future

This workshop was originally taught at the Summer Academy for Pluralist Economics 2022
Instructor: Sarah Lange (University of Siegen, Germany)

Course Content and Outcome 

The workshop deals with the contribution of Plural Economics to the urgently  needed change of the economic system towards sustainability and global  responsibility. 

After completing the module, participants should be able to demarcate and  explain different economic approaches to sustainability. They should be able to  evaluate the respective concepts based on their contribution to the ecological  transformation of the economic system. 

Required Texts 

All texts used in the course will be sent to the participants by the instructor during  the workshop. Therefore, no books need to be purchased or worked on in  preparation for the course. 

During the workshop, participants will work (among others) with excerpts from  the following publications: 

• Daly, H. (1999). Steady-state economics. Island.  
• Daly, H. & Farley, J. (2004). Ecological economics. Island.
• IPCC (2022). 6. Main report. Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation  and vulnerability. Working group II. Full report. 
• Keohane, N. et al. (2016). Markets and the environment. Island.
• Paech, N. (2012). Liberation from excess: The road to a post-growth  economy. Oekom. 
• Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut economics. Radom House Business.
• Reardon, J. et al. (2018). Introducing a new economics. Pluto.
• Sarkar, S. (1999). Eco-socialism or eco-capitalism?. Zed.
• Tietenberg, T. et al. (2019). Environmental economis: The essentials.  Taylor & Francis. 

German-speaking course participants can (voluntarily) prepare for the guest lecture by looking at Prof. Peukert's current book: 

• Peukert, H. (2022). Klimaneutralität jetzt! Update 2022. Metropolis.

Course Schedule 

Day 1: “Warm up” 

• Getting to know each other  
• Presentation of the workshop schedule 
• Introduction to the concept and goals of Pluralist Economics 
• Why do we need a stronger sustainability discourse in economics - scientific facts on the climate crisis 

Day 2: Economic growth with new attributes 

• Theories of the economic mainstream and its extensions (environmental economics, eco-innovation, green growth, consumer  responsibility)  
• Decoupling growth and environmental degradation 
• Current state of the European climate policy, especially emissions trading and its criticism (guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Dr. Peukert) 

Day 3: Alternative economic concepts outside the logic of growth

• Ecological economics (post-growth economics, steady state economy,  ecosocialism) 

Day 4: New economic and social orders with a focus on human well-being

• Economy of the common good, solidarity-based economy 

Day 5: Critical application and “cool down” 

• Evaluation of the various approaches in terms of their contribution to a  sustainable economy  
• Guiding questions: 
  • Which economic approaches meet the demands of climate science? 
  • Combination of several approaches with regard to their sustainability requirements or commitment to certain schools of economic thought? 

Download syllabus here