I am reading a book called "Natural Capitalism" by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins. Obviously this is not Austrian and it is quite frustrating to read through. Thoughts on the following:
Natural capitalism recognizes the critical interdependency between the production and use of human-made capital and the maintenance and supply of natural-capital. The traditional definition of capital is accumulated wealth in the form of investments, factories, and equipment.
Actually, an economy needs four types of capital to function properly: -human capital, in the form of labor and intelligence, culture, and organization -financial capital, consisting of cash, investments, and monetary instruments -manufactured capital, including infrastructure, machines, tools, and factories -natural capital, made up of resources, living systems, and ecosystem services
What is an 'ecosystem service'?
Wait... did they just say that a working economy can't exist in orbit, on the moon, or in Hong Kong?
Bump.I also just came across this book & was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is anything worthwhile in it. From reading the wikipedia article, it seems to have something worthwhile to say, but I'm not banking on it being remotley influenced by austrian econ, however.
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I am actually taking a class from one of the authors of the book, Hunter Lovins, as we speak. Suffice it to say, we are butting heads when it comes to free market vs interventionism. The book is far from Austrian, but touches on market based solutions.
Chapter 13 might be of interest. It attempts to admonish the free market. But after further examination, the chapter admonishes neoclassical economics without even knowing it. I found myself agreeing with her, but only after changing the target of the attack.
Overall, I found it an interesting read, yet a frustrating read when it came to misunderstanding the free market. Curious to hear your thoughts.
PDF's are available per chapter:
http://www.natcap.org/sitepages/pid20.php
BTW, the book is ~10+ years old, so some of the ideas may seem a little dated, but in time context were quite visionary.