Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1003700 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Amazon.com
Eric A. Davidson's engaging and informative book couldn't have come at a more timely moment. In an age when high technology is driving our economy and propelling us further from the ecological system that physically supports us, You Can't Eat GNP sends a loud and urgent message: the economic system will fail if the ecosystem is not carefully managed.

As Davidson explains, the system of neoclassical economics, which governs our economy, assigns value to goods depending on the level at which they're produced and consumed. For example, marketed consumer products like bread hold high value, while bread's main ingredient, flour, holds less. Flour in its unprocessed form, wheat, holds even less value, and the soil from which wheat is grown holds the least worth of all. This triangle has become an exact inversion of the ecologist's pyramid, however, in which soil--which supports the entire ecological system, from plants to herbivores to carnivores--is viewed as the pyramid's stabilizing resource. Davidson argues these opposing models must be integrated in order to preserve the ecological system that sustains our economic system. He doesn't propose a "back to nature" solution, nor does he negate the importance of technological developments stimulated by our present mode of economics. He does, however, agree with R.H. Tawney's observation that "If economic ambitions are good servants, they are bad masters." Davidson examines the environmental effects of rigidly employed economic values such as cost-benefit analysis and considers the inevitable economic effects of global warming, waste disposal, and the failure to pursue sustainability. Though his proposals for change are not extensive, he does offer workable (and sometimes controversial) suggestions for both individual and community action.

An author as well as a respected scientist, Davidson writes in clear, lucid prose, making the sciences of economics and ecology accessible to the nonscientific reader, without dumbing down his arguments. He supports his points with relevant, contemporary examples, highlighting the vital importance of managing the economy in conjunction with the environment. As this intelligent treatise wryly reminds us, no matter how booming the economy, we'll never be able to eat our gross national product. --S. Ketchum

Book Info
Davidson's engaging and informative book sends a loud and urgent message: the economic system will fail if the ecosystem is not carefully managed. Softcover.

About the Author
George M. Woodwell, Ph.D., the internationally renowned ecologist, is founder and president of the Woods Hole Research Center.

Customer Reviews

Not what I expected
I wanted to write an enthusiastic review of this book because of its provocative title which suggests economic solutions for ecology. Unfortunately, the book emphasizes ecological problems more than economic solutions. It also doesn't look enough into the economics of sustainable development, but author Eric Davidson does offer sound ideas on environmental regulation.

The author starts his thesis with the idea that soil is the building block for our survival as human beings. I agree that soil is critical and appreciate the details of soil erosion. However, I was looking for thought on the larger picture: sustainable development and the corresponding economic/ecologic conflict. Likewise, I tired of reading about the green house effect, forest depletion, and the exhaustion of water resources without thought devoted to how we might address general reduction of natural resources, i.e., apply potential eco-economic solutions.

Mr. Davidson clearly demonstrates that sustainable development must reconcile ecology and economy. One of the strong points of the book is a pyramid graphic that contains economy within ecology. He mentions a similar concept: the "Precautionary Principle" as a way to plan for the future. Yet, aside from mentioning cost benefit analysis and discounting, Mr. Davidson only scratches the surface on how to approach sustainable development from an economic perspective. Eco-economics is mentioned but not elaborated on as the author doesn't claim this as an area of expertise.

Some strong regulatory ideas are presented such as limiting road construction and other governmental intervention. He suggests pollution permits, which have become a reality (see The Wall Street Journal 11/8/04). These and other regulatory ideas aren't listed until the end of the book. I would have liked to see the book begin with these ideas and made more central to the argument.

For a book focusing on eco-economics, I recommend "Beyond Growth" by Herman Daly.

Quick, straight forward, engaging
Over the Thanksgiving break I read You Can't Eat GNP: Economics as if Ecology Mattered by Eric Davidson (Perseus Publishing, 2000). The economics aspects would probably be way too basic for most economists, and the ecology aspects too basic for environmentalists, but I was extremely pleased with its straightforward explanations of the interaction of economics and ecology. A book like this might get these two groups to begin to understand each other's language.

a perfect little book
This book is great for the beginner in environmental economics. For someone who is concerned about the environment but insecure about defending arguments against those with some economic background, here is you ammunition. It is easy to read and full of examples of how natural resources are not taken into account properly in current economic theory, and therefore not conserved as they should be. It is a basic idea but this book maps it out wonderfully. I think this would be a great read for intro level environmental studies courses in high school or college.