Title: Green economics, science and libertarianism

Authors: Graham Dawson

Addresses: The Beloff Centre for the Study of Liberty, The University of Buckingham, Buckingham MK18 1EG, UK

Abstract: A green economics that aspires to understand economic activity and to value non-human nature must eschew scientific methodology. Neither neoclassical environmental economics nor ecological economics constitute an anti-scientistic green economics, failing to capture the centrality of agents' subjective meanings while imposing the observer's values. Free market environmentalism and Austrian environmental economics solve the problems of agent meaning and observer values for human economic agents but share an anthropocentric perspective on the environment as no more than natural resources. Libertarian green economics not only solves the meaning and value problems but also has the capacity to expand the boundaries of moral concern beyond those recognised by free market environmentalism and Austrian economics, incorporating non-human nature as including bearers of property rights.

Keywords: libertarian green economics; scientism; Winch; Hayek; neoclassical environmental economics; ecological economics; Austrian environmental economics; free market environmentalism; property rights; science; libertarianism; Austrian economics; moral concern.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2015.075198

International Journal of Green Economics, 2015 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.316 - 329

Accepted: 26 Nov 2015
Published online: 07 Mar 2016 *

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