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Natural Capital as an Economic Concept, History and Contemporary Issues

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  • Missemer, Antoine

Abstract

Natural capital is usually presented as a recent concept, used for the first time in the 1970s, adopted in an important contribution by David Pearce in 1988, and widely used by ecological economists in the early 1990s. First employed to incorporate natural constraints into the economic lexicon, and to oblige economists to take the environment into account, the concept has also been used to include the environment in narrow economic valuations. To take a global view of these controversial uses, this paper reconsiders the genesis of natural capital as an economic concept, not in its present-day form, but from its almost unknown, ancient origins in the 1900s–1910s, in the writing of Alvin S. Johnson. The article first sheds light on this historical and theoretical moment, and then shows how it can help interpret current controversies about natural capital.

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  • Missemer, Antoine, 2018. "Natural Capital as an Economic Concept, History and Contemporary Issues," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 90-96.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:143:y:2018:i:c:p:90-96
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.07.011
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    3. Stephen C. L. Watson & Adrian C. Newton, 2018. "Dependency of Businesses on Flows of Ecosystem Services: A Case Study from the County of Dorset, UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, April.
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    5. Alexandru Cosmin BUTEICÃ & Cãtãlin Emilian HUIDUMAC-PETRESCU, 2019. "A Review Of Recent Trends To Establish Nature-Related Financial Considerations," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 692-701, November.
    6. Alexandre RAMBAUD, 2023. "How can accounting reformulate the debate on natural capital and help implement its ecological approach?," Working Paper 8567406c-bed0-4401-9792-a, Agence française de développement.
    7. Smessaert, Jacob & Missemer, Antoine & Levrel, Harold, 2020. "The commodification of nature, a review in social sciences," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    8. Fleming, Aysha & O'Grady, Anthony P. & Stitzlein, Cara & Ogilvy, Sue & Mendham, Daniel & Harrison, Matthew T., 2022. "Improving acceptance of natural capital accounting in land use decision making: Barriers and opportunities," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    9. Cole, Scott & Moksnes, Per-Olav & Söderqvist, Tore & Wikström, Sofia A. & Sundblad, Göran & Hasselström, Linus & Bergström, Ulf & Kraufvelin, Patrik & Bergström, Lena, 2021. "Environmental compensation for biodiversity and ecosystem services: A flexible framework that addresses human wellbeing," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    10. Wolloch, Nathaniel, 2020. "Adam Smith and the concept of natural capital," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    11. Simon Hupfel & Antoine Missemer, 2023. "Decommodifying wealth: Lauderdale and ecological economics beyond the Lauderdale paradox," Post-Print hal-04213171, HAL.
    12. Mónica de Castro Pardo & Pascual Fernández Martínez & José Manuel Guaita Martínez & José María Martín Martín, 2020. "Modelling Natural Capital: A Proposal for a Mixed Multi-criteria Approach to Assign Management Priorities to Ecosystem Services," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 14(1), March.
    13. Maryam Hina & Chetna Chauhan & Rajat Sharma & Amandeep Dhir, 2023. "Circular economy business models as pillars of sustainability: Where are we now, and where are we heading?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 6182-6209, December.
    14. François Allisson & Antoine Missemer, 2020. "Some Historiographical Tools for the Study of Intellectual Legacies," Post-Print halshs-02931492, HAL.
    15. Stanislav E. Shmelev & Linus Agbleze & Joachim H. Spangenberg, 2023. "Multidimensional Ecosystem Mapping: Towards a More Comprehensive Spatial Assessment of Nature’s Contributions to People in France," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-32, May.
    16. repec:ers:journl:v:volumexxi:y:2018:i:issue4:p:20-30 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Victor, Peter A., 2020. "Cents and nonsense: A critical appraisal of the monetary valuation of nature," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    18. Hupfel, Simon & Missemer, Antoine, 2023. "Decommodifying wealth: Lauderdale and ecological economics beyond the Lauderdale paradox," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    19. Lu Zhang & Zhongfa Zhou & Quan Chen & Lan Wu & Qing Feng & Dan Luo & Tangyin Wu, 2022. "Accounting for Value Changes in Cultivated Land Resources within the Karst Mountain Area of Southwest China, 2001–2020," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-23, May.
    20. Le Ravalec, Mickaele & Rambaud, Alexandre & Blum, Véronique, 2022. "Taking climate change seriously: Time to credibly communicate on corporate climate performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    21. Franco, Marco P.V., 2020. "Conservation, economic planning and natural capital in early Soviet ecology," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    22. Hualin Xie & Zhe Li & Yu Xu, 2022. "Study on the Coupling and Coordination Relationship between Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) and Regional Economic System: A Case Study of Jiangxi Province," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-20, September.
    23. Song, Malin & Xie, Qianjiao & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Yao, Xin, 2023. "Economic growth and security from the perspective of natural resource assets," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    24. Sievers-Glotzbach, Stefanie & Tschersich, Julia, 2019. "Overcoming the process-structure divide in conceptions of Social-Ecological Transformation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural capital; History of economic thought; Monetary valuation; Theory of capital; John Bates Clark; Irving Fisher; Alvin S. Johnson;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • Q3 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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