ESS Jottings

Summary: Write aspects in free-writing form here. Just write and build. The rest will come.

Topics

Catalog a sequence of h3 topics to develop here, placed within the larger organization of the ESS project.

Rist's critique of economics.
Generative vs. parasitic growth/development: start with Hoselitz and with Harvey. Use the language of social ecology to frame the discussions.
VAT and how it might work in lieu of carbon tax as centerpiece of public policy. See Morrisson pdf on eco-taxes.

I. Background and Framework

In general, herald economic thought, thus Rist. Add Smith, Schumpeter, Polanyi, Marx, but Braudel is mainstay. This grounds a critical approach that does not give the game away in the assumptions.

Aristotle

Grounds thought, practice, knowing. The School of Athens goes here. Chrematistics fits nicely. Don't get caught in the ncl paradigm.

Braudel

Braudel follows Anthropocene discussion as transitional and sets a tone that envelopes formal economics. Don't introduce Braudel along with Polanyi, who has an essential niche later. Clarify that ESS is not in the tradition of formal economic theory.

Inject Braudel prior to an introduction to formal definitions of economics, raising the sensitive concern of how to approach capitalism. Braudel can deflect the Marxist challenge, as does Schumpeter. Braudel places economic thought in context.

Braudel frames his magesterial economic history around three layers:

The vernacular world, roughly material culture --- a seque into materials cycle perhaps. This needs a lot of work.
Commerce, but local and comprehensible in scope and scale.
The World, Cosmopolitan in scope and scale. Braudel gets confusing but adds a dose of theory.