Natural resources in the theory of production: the Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz controversy

Quentin Couix

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Abstract: This paper provides a theoretical and methodological account of an important controversy between neoclassical resource economics and ecological economics from the early 1970s to the end of the 1990s. It shows that the assumption of unbounded resource productivity in the work of Solow and Stiglitz–and the related concepts of substitution and technical progress–rest on a model-based methodology. On the other hand, Georgescu-Roegen's assumption of thermodynamic limits to production, later revived by Daly, comes from a methodology of interdisciplinary consistency. I conclude that neither side provided a definitive proof of its own claim because both face important conceptual issues.

Keywords: theory of production; Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen; Robert Solow; Joseph Stiglitz; natural resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02332491v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published in European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2019, 26 (6), pp.1341-1378. ⟨10.1080/09672567.2019.1679210⟩

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Working Paper: Natural Resources in the Theory of Production: The Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz Controversy (2019)
Working Paper: Natural resources in the theory of production: the Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz controversy (2019)
Working Paper: Natural Resources in the Theory of Production: The Georgescu-Roegen/Daly versus Solow/Stiglitz Controversy (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02332491

DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2019.1679210

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