Why Gaian Economics?

We have called this website Gaian Economics to imply the most holistic approach to a study of the distribution of resources. Economics is conventionally defined as the study of how resources are, or should be, shared. This is clearly an issue central to any society. Yet in industrialised capitalist societies economics is a narrow study, distorted and disguised by the use of mathematics, and in which only an elite participate. It is clear to many that the allocation of resources is grossly unfair and that this is the root cause of the worst problems we face as a global society, from climate change to wars of liberation.

We want to build a strong, academically grounded alternative economics to the aptly named 'dismal science' taught in the universities. It should take an international perspective and reflect the insights of related disciplines such as political economy, economic sociology, and social psychology.

It has often been pointed out that the roots of the words ecology and economics are both found in the Greek word 'oikos', meaning household or home and represent a more holistic appreciation of the public-private, ecological-economic, and home-society dichotomies.

Gaian economics is meant to signify a global economics in terms of geographical and intellectual breadth, and an approach to economics that respects the planet and the species that share her bounty. Gaian economics also links in to other alternative systems of economics, especially green economics, environmental economics and the heterodox economics movement that is seeking to broaden the economic curriculum taught in universities. For more information about what issues are covered in Gaian Economics go to the housekeeping page. The following researchers are part of the Gaian Economics collective: Molly Scott Cato, Frances Hutchinson, David McKnight and Ben Gregory, and Ramòn Fernàndez Duràn.