Registration ends on 12.10.2026 at 23:59.

Economics plays a crucial role in how humans understand and manage their interactions with the natural world. It can be argued that our current economic system (and the values and mind-sets that shape that system) are one of the root causes of humanity’s current unsustainable development trajectory. In this seminar we will explore, the underpinning assumptions of neo-classical economic (the dominant school of economic thought) and contrast this approach with ideas drawn from resource, ecological and steady state economics. Each of these schools of thought will be related to the notion of sustainability with the emphasis on what economics can tell us about both sustainability problems and sustainability solutions.
The course will draw on topics ranging from the limits to economic growth, the ethics of placing monetary values on nature, strong versus weak sustainability, the economics of climate change, and notions of justice in relation to the allocation of economic resources.

1. To provide an overview of the emerging field of sustainability economics.
2. Highlight the underpinning assumptions in different strands of economic thought and how these assumptions shape understandings of, and approaches to, sustainability.
3. To identify the key characteristics of neo-classical, resource, ecological and sustainability economics.
4. To provide critical insights into how economic thought has shaped sustainability problems and may provide sustainability solutions.

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