IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v226y2024ics0921800924002465.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Slavcho Zagorov (1898–1970), A forgotten pioneer of energy and ecological economics

Author

Listed:
  • Nenovska, Nona
  • Magnin, Eric
  • Nenovsky, Nikolay

Abstract

This article aims to rediscover a relatively unknown author to the general public, Slavcho Zagorov, and to revive his ideas. Zagorov was a Bulgarian economist and statistician whose main works date back to 1954 and are mainly devoted to the concept of energy flows in the economy and human metabolism explained through the prism of thermodynamics. His work and career are reminiscent of another Balkan economist, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. We first present Zagorov's theoretical work on the importance of energy in economic activity and secondly on the measurement of national income and productivity through energy. Thirdly, we show the relation he establishes between energy and utility. Finally, we discuss his texts in relation to his professional and personal trajectory and point out some preliminary elements of comparison with Georgescu-Roegen's work.

Suggested Citation

  • Nenovska, Nona & Magnin, Eric & Nenovsky, Nikolay, 2024. "Slavcho Zagorov (1898–1970), A forgotten pioneer of energy and ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:226:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924002465
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108349
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924002465
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108349?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Suprinyak, Carlos Eduardo, 2022. "Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Development Economist," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 205-225, June.
    2. Eric Magnin & Nikolay Nenovsky, 2021. "Calculating without money. Theories of in-kind accounting of Alexander Chayanov, Otto Neurath and the early Soviet experiences," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 456-477, May.
    3. Lambert, Jessica G. & Hall, Charles A.S. & Balogh, Stephen & Gupta, Ajay & Arnold, Michelle, 2014. "Energy, EROI and quality of life," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 153-167.
    4. Vivien, F.-D. & Nieddu, M. & Befort, N. & Debref, R. & Giampietro, M., 2019. "The Hijacking of the Bioeconomy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 189-197.
    5. John Gowdy & Susan Mesner, 1998. "The Evolution of Georgescu-Roegen's Bioeconomics," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 136-156.
    6. Martinez-Alier, J., 1997. "Some issues in agrarian and ecological economics, in memory of Georgescu-Roegen," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 225-238, September.
    7. S. D. Zagoroff, 1934. "The External Depreciation of the Dollar and its Effect Upon the Price Level in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(5), pages 641-641.
    8. Nikolay Nenovsky & Tsvetelina Marinova, 2022. "The first steps of the lender of last resort in Bulgaria. History and debates during the Great Depression," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 28-53.
    9. N. Georgescu-Roegen, 1960. "Economic Theory And Agrarian Economics," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 1-40.
    10. S. Sagoroff, 1961. "Historical note on the application of mathematics in economics in Germany," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 78-81, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nona Nenovska & Nikolay Nenovsky & Eric Magnin, 2023. "The energy and ecological economic theory of Slavcho Zagorov (1898 – 1970)," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 7-38.
    2. Nenovska, Nona & Magnin, Eric & Nenovsky, Nikolay, 2022. "Енергетичната И Екологична Икономическа Теория На Славчо Загоров (1898 - 1970) [The energy and ecological economic theory of Slavcho Zagorov (1898 - 1970)]," MPRA Paper 115938, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Grouiez, Pascal & Debref, Romain & Vivien, Franck-Dominique & Befort, Nicolas, 2023. "The complex relationships between non-food agriculture and the sustainable bioeconomy: The French case," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    4. Couix, Quentin, 2020. "Georgescu-Roegen's Flow-Fund Theory of Production in Retrospect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Suprinyak, Carlos Eduardo, 2022. "Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Development Economist," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 205-225, June.
    6. Stephanie Lang & Giulia Minnucci & Matthias Mueller & Michael P. Schlaile, 2023. "The Role of Consumers in Business Model Innovations for a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    7. Rafael Ninno Muniz & Stéfano Frizzo Stefenon & William Gouvêa Buratto & Ademir Nied & Luiz Henrique Meyer & Erlon Cristian Finardi & Ricardo Marino Kühl & José Alberto Silva de Sá & Brigida Ramati Per, 2020. "Tools for Measuring Energy Sustainability: A Comparative Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-27, May.
    8. Hirt, Léon F. & Sahakian, Marlyne & Trutnevyte, Evelina, 2022. "What subnational imaginaries for solar PV? The case of the Swiss energy transition," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    9. Kronenberg, Tobias, 2010. "Finding common ground between ecological economics and post-Keynesian economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1488-1494, May.
    10. Cuestas-Caza, Javier & Toledo, Lucía & Rodríguez, Fabricio, 2024. "Transcultural bioeconomy governance in a plurinational state: Sumak Kawsay and bio-based production in two Kichwa territories of Ecuador," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    11. Robert E.B. Lucas, 2007. "Migration and rural development," The Electronic Journal of Agricultural and Development Economics, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, vol. 4(1), pages 99-122.
    12. Jonathan Dumas & Antoine Dubois & Paolo Thiran & Pierre Jacques & Francesco Contino & Bertrand Cornélusse & Gauthier Limpens, 2022. "The Energy Return on Investment of Whole-Energy Systems: Application to Belgium," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 1-34, December.
    13. Yoann Verger, 2015. "Sraffa and ecological economics: review of the literature," Working Papers hal-01182894, HAL.
    14. Florian Fizaine & Victor Court, 2016. "The energy-economic growth relationship: a new insight from the EROI perspective," Working Papers 1601, Chaire Economie du climat.
    15. Charles Guay-Boutet, 2023. "Estimating the Disaggregated Standard EROI of Canadian Oil Sands Extracted via Open-pit Mining, 1997–2016," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-21, March.
    16. Enrica Leccisi & Marco Raugei & Vasilis Fthenakis, 2016. "The Energy and Environmental Performance of Ground-Mounted Photovoltaic Systems—A Timely Update," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-13, August.
    17. Adrien Faudot & Tsvetelina Marinova & Nikolay Nenovsky, 2022. "Comecon Monetary Mechanisms. A history of socialist monetary integration (1949 -1991)," Working Papers hal-04084493, HAL.
    18. Bayer, Patrick & Kennedy, Ryan & Yang, Joonseok & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2020. "The need for impact evaluation in electricity access research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    19. Christos Makriyannis, 2023. "How the Biophysical Paradigm Impedes the Scientific Advancement of Ecological Economics: A Transdisciplinary Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-24, November.
    20. Sousa, Tania & Domingos, Tiago, 2006. "Is neoclassical microeconomics formally valid? An approach based on an analogy with equilibrium thermodynamics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 160-169, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Slavcho Zagorov; Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen; Energy; Bioeconomics; Productivity; National Income;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B30 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - General
    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:226:y:2024:i:c:s0921800924002465. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.