Marginal reasoning and (bio)diversity Online publication date: Fri, 04-Jul-2003
by Joachim Schutz
International Journal of Sustainable Development (IJSD), Vol. 3, No. 4, 2000
Abstract: One of the decisive advantages of a systems approach is the possibility to achieve a level of efficiency beyond any individual effort by integrating diverse capabilities. Integrated diversity should therefore be regarded as the source for the potential development of any system. The wealth of any sustainable society depends thus not only on its factor endowments, but also on its capability to organise itself, and its environment, accordingly. However, the currently established way to achieve sustainability by markets relies on marginal reasoning. Yet this partial perspective tends to reduce functional diversity to raise a specific, narrowly defined efficiency, whereas a systemic perspective tends to improve a comprising efficiency by raising integrated functional diversity. The willingness to understand these insights combined with the capacity to express them accordingly is called ''systemic competence''. It will be suggested that integrated (bio)diversity, cooperative structures, and systemic competence are interrelated key elements determining the achievable efficiency level of any future sustainable economy.
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