Sustaining Our Commonwealth of Nature and Knowledge

This lecture will address issues of sustainability in the context of two somewhat opposite difficulties in managing our commonwealth: the problem of non enclosure of the truly scarce (nature); and that of enclosure of the truly non scarce (knowledge). Policy reforms respecting the capacities and limitations of the market in each case will be considered. In closing a third type of commonwealth, neither nature nor knowledge but institutions, is briefly discussed in terms of the example of fiat money.

One of the world’s most notable environmental thinkers, Herman E. Daly is currently Professor at the University of Maryland in the School of Public Affairs. His numerous works include: Steady-State Economics , Beyond Growth , and For the Common Good . Daly is also a co-founder of the journal Ecological Economics and serves on its editorial board.