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Rethinking Productivity: Why has Productivity Focussed on Labour Instead of Natural Resources?

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  • Raimund Bleischwitz

Abstract

The contribution of natural resources and ecosystems to economic processes still remains under-assessed by market evaluation and productivity analysis. Following the historical lines of the classical productivity debate ranging from the French Physiocrats to early neoclassical growth theories, the productivity concept underwent a gradual transformation from its previous understanding based on natural resources and other environmental factors to its contemporary narrow notion. This paper claims that the course of the classical debate has shaped the scope of predominant contemporary analysis. Except for some very recent findings, multifactor productivity largely focusses on a two-factor model. Material Flow Analysis (MFA) provides a useful step for widening the measurement and notion of productivity. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001

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  • Raimund Bleischwitz, 2001. "Rethinking Productivity: Why has Productivity Focussed on Labour Instead of Natural Resources?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 19(1), pages 23-36, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:19:y:2001:i:1:p:23-36
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1011106527578
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    1. Niza, Samuel & Ferrão, Paulo, 2006. "A transitional economy's metabolism: The case of Portugal," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 265-280.
    2. Lauwers, Ludwig, 2009. "Justifying the incorporation of the materials balance principle into frontier-based eco-efficiency models," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1605-1614, April.
    3. Mair, Simon & Druckman, Angela & Jackson, Tim, 2020. "A tale of two utopias: Work in a post-growth world," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Malcolm Abbott, 2018. "Productivity: a history of its measurement," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(1), pages 57-80.
    5. Desalegn A. Gugissa & Paul T.M. Ingenbleek & Hans C.M. van Trijp & Mebrahtu L. Teklehaimanot & Workneh K. Tessema, 2021. "When natural resources run out, market knowledge steps in: Lessons on natural resource deployment from a longitudinal study in a resource‐scarce region of Ethiopia," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1598-1609, May.

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