Research On Institutionalist Environmental Economic Thoughts

With the acceleration of economic growth in the world since the Industrial Revolution,the exploitation and utilization of nature and the consequent environmental problems have become more and more serious,which has posed a serious threat to the economic and social reproduction of human beings,and people have begun to constantly reflect on the traditional mode of economic growth.Therefore,Since the 1950s,environmental issues have not only attracted the attention of natural scientists,but also attracted many economists to research environmental problems and policies from different perspectives.Although it is not neoclassical economics that links natural environmental and economic issues at first,as the mainstream of economics,they quickly dominate the development of environmental economic theory by using their vast knowledge network and easy-to-quantify analytical methods,and play an increasingly important role in the formation of environmental policies in Western countries.However,in the neoclassical paradigm,natural resources and environmental goods are regarded as a factor input that can be used at any time in the economic process,and the environmental pollution are attributed to factors outside the economic system.This view ignores the integrity and complexity of ecosystem and its organic connection with social system,and pays no attention to the principles and laws of self-organization,regulation and evolution in biosphere.It only replaces the intrinsic value of ecosystem with economic value.Therefore,environmental economics based on this foundation has great limitations,and it can not fundamentally explain the relationship between economic process and ecological environment,so it has been criticized by many schools,especially heterodox economics.As an important school of heterodox economics,the institutionalist holism and evolutionary development concept make it fully aware of the relationship between economic and social development and ecological factors such as nature,environment and resources,treat economic process from an embedded perspective,pay attention to the institutional origin of environmental problems and its complex,multi-dimensional social characteristics,and open to the outside world.It understands the social system and its structural changes in an open way,and regards ecological constraints as the premise and foundation of human social and economic development.Therefore,the institutionalist theory of environmental economic has natural advantages in understanding the environmental and economic problems of contemporary society,and the environmental control policy put forward therefrom has more practical significance.The research content of this paper is based on the understanding of the above issues.The full text is divided into seven chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,which clarifies the background and significance of this topic,and summarizes the environmental economic thoughts of different periods and schools,then puts forward the main research framework and research methods.The second chapter is the first part of the theoretical research.It elaborates the theoretical basis of institutionalism environmental economic thought.Starting from the philosophical basis and methodology of institutionalism,it analyses the main theoretical elements of institutionalism,and emphasizes the overall characteristics of economics as a historical,evolutionary and process-oriented paradigm.Chapter three discusses the formation process of the institutionalism environmental economy thought,studies the environmental economy thought of Veblen,J.M.Clark and other early institutionalists,and its influence on Kapp,whose in-depth analysis of the social cost problem in the capitalist market economy had become the starting point for many schools to study the environmental problem and laid the foundation of the Institutionalism environmental economy theory.Chapter four discusses the ecological development concept of institutionalism.The value principle,concept of ecological development and the sustainable principle of coevolution proposed on this basis extend the analytical methods and tools of institution to the application of ecological environment problems.The coevolution model of social system and ecological system proposed by Swaney has further added the consideration of ecological constraints to the analysis of institutional adjustment,enriching the connotation of institutional change theory.In the fifth chapter,based on the viewpoints of Kapp and others,it puts forward an analytical framework of institutionalist environmental economic theory,which includes the understanding of the connotation of environmental problems,the relationship between economic processes and ecosystems,the indicators and methods of environmental assessment from the institutional perspective,as well as the environmental control measures and environmental policies based on institutional arrangements.The theoretical framework is constructed from the aspects of relationship,characteristics and methods.Chapter Six makes a comprehensive comparison between institutionalism and neoclassical economics in their theoretical ideas and policy propositions of environmental economy,and concludes that compared with neoclassical environmental economics,institutionalism provides a broader and more substantive theoretical analysis framework in terms of theoretical basis,evaluation methods,objectives and tools.Chapter seven is a summary and evaluation part of this paper.While summing up the research paradigm of institutionalism and the main points of environmental economic theory,this chapter objectively evaluates the shortcomings of institutionalist theory,and discusses its feasibility as a replacement theory of neoclassical environmental economics.The fifth and sixth chapters are the focus of this paper.Through sorting out the economic thoughts,constructing the theoretical framework and comparing horizontally,the conclusion of this paper is finally drawn,that is,institutionalism which incorporates the perspective of social and ecological co-evolution provides a more effective framework for environmental and economic analysis,which emphasizes the decisive influence of the social system on the causes and results of environmental problems under specific institutional arrangements,it also argues that institutional adjustment is the key to solve the imbalance of social-ecosystem and thus environmental economic issues.