1. Environment and Natural Resources
I have seen the enemy, and he is an economist Economic lessons for the ecologically literate
Jon D. Erickson
Rubenstein School of
Environment and Natural Resources
University of Vermont

2. Academic Autism Autism, a disorder characterized by:
Absorption in self-centered subjective mental activity (such as daydreams, fantasies, delusions, and hallucinations)
Marked deficits in communication and social interaction
Marked withdrawal from reality
Abnormal behavior, such as excessive attachment to certain objects

3. When no one can be made better off without harming someone else
Pareto Efficiency
When no one can be made better off without harming someone else

4. Fundamental Theorems of Welfare Economics
Pareto Efficiency implied by:
Maximization of consumer preferences under budget constraints.
Maximization of profits under technology constraints.
Any Pareto Efficient outcome can be supported with lump sum transfers.

5. MB = MC Policy Implications Theorem 1  Exhaust Pareto Improvements
Theorem 2  Exhaust Potential Pareto Improvements
MB = MC

6. Organization of Society
Maximize individual well-being (utility)
Maximize per capita consumption
 Maximize per capita GDP (production)
 Maximize GDP
 Specialization & exchange
 Free market capitalism
 World trade
 Globalization
 Maximize GWP

9. Pillars of the First Theorem
A theory of human behavior based on an isolated, rational, self-maximizing individual at a point in time
A theory of firm behavior based on perfect competition, production as allocating fixed resources, and exogeneous technical change

11. The Efficiency Criterion requires we:
Ignore interpersonal, intergenerational, and interspecies comparisons
Accept the rational actor model of human behavior
Accept perfect competition
Accept an economic system devoted to material production, free of social and biophysical constraints

12. The Ecological Economics Umbrella
Human economy as a social system embedded in a biophysical universe
Efficiency as a third-tier goal, behind sustainable scale and equitable distribution
Allocation of scarce means among alternative desirable ends