The Foundational Components of Self-Regulating (Sustainable) Economies and Ecosystems: Implications for Green Infrastructure and Economic Restoration

John H. Giordanengo ()
Additional contact information
John H. Giordanengo: Economic Restoration Services, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: The current global economic system undermines sustainability efforts such as green infrastructure and circularity, while jeopardizing social and environmental values in rich and poor countries alike. These chronic failures stem in part from a poor understanding of an economy’s structure. While many scientists view economic and ecological systems as homologous to one another (i.e., similar structures and processes), an understanding of the foundational components of these systems is lacking. A primary objective of this paper is to refine the understanding of those foundational components, and their interactions. Dozens of ecological processes have functional equivalents in economies, such as succession, evolution, symbiosis, and competition. The central hypothesis here is that three components—diversity, energy, and trade (i.e., resource transfers)—constitute the foundational components of self-regulating economies and ecosystems. A secondary hypothesis is that the interaction of these components regionally, rather than at a global scale, is a limiting factor to the long-term success of sustainability elements such as circularity, green infrastructure, and others. This article evaluates diversity, energy, and trade relative to measures such as net productivity, stability, resource-use efficiency, and biomass (i.e., capital) accumulation. In closing, the concept of economic restoration is summarized, as informed by principles of ecological restoration.

Keywords: complexity theory; sustainability; green infrastructure; restoration; resilience; self-reliance; energy neutrality; endogenous economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/11/2044/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/11/2044/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:11:p:2044-:d:1277676

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().