On the Steady State
<p>It is a regrettable honor to introduce this essay by Herman Daly. The honor comes from the importance of Daly’s thought, which is fundamental. The overused word is apt here: Daly has supplied a new foundation for economic thought and practice. In a civilization describable as global capitalism, few intellectual contributions are—or, rather, ought to be—of more consequence. As Karl Polanyi pointed out long ago, capitalism represents a new kind society in the span 0f human history; for us, the economy a k a the market hosts the society, rather than the other way around. Daly’s work in ecological economics insists on the necessity of a different kind of economy, serving, not hosting, another kind of society—a society that not only could last, as our ecologically ruinous one cannot, but that would deserve to last, as no one with much sense of justice can feel that ours does…</p>
Authors: Herman Daly
Contributors: Benjamin Kunkel
Editors: Jenny Jaskey
Design: John Morgan
ISBN: 978-0-9970995-3-9