Privileged Goods: Commoditization and Its Impact on Environment and Society (Ecological Economics)

Acknowledgments, About the Author, Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 2 The privileged qualities of commodities, 2.1 The process of commoditization, 2.2 Examples of how commoditization works, 2.3 The attributes of commodities, 2.3.1 Ability to assign and protect property rights, 2.3.2 Degree of mobility and transportability, 2.3.3 Degree of universality and particularity, 2.3.4 Systems vs. products, 2.3.5 Cooperation vs. competition, 2.3.6 Degree of energy concentration, 2.3.7 Embodied knowledge vs. user knowledge, 2.3.8 The substitution of labor by technology, 2.3.9 Community cooperation vs. individual consumption, 2.3.10 Stability and predictability vs. fluctuations and surprise, 2.3.11 Design with vs. against nature, 2.3.12 Concrete vs. abstract, 2.3.13 Tradition vs. innovation, 2.3.14 Simplification, 2.3.15 Time frame of benefits, 2.3.16 Sufficiency vs. efficiency, 2.3.17 Commoditization and GNP, 2.4 Conclusion, Chapter 3 Evolution, systems, and commoditization, 3.1 Introduction, 3.2 Commoditization and evolutionary theory, 3.3 The natural selection of commodities, 3.4 Commoditization and systems, 3.5 Conclusion, Chapter 4 Commoditization and the distortions of development, 4.1 Introduction, 4.2 Unfair competition and comparisons, 4.3 Industrial or high-input agriculture vs. low-input agriculture, 4.3.1 Indigenous agricultural systems, 4.3.2 Productivity and unfair comparisons, 4.3.3 Research and development, 4.4 Health care and health services, 4.5 Environmental pollution control and the 4Rs, 4.6 Transportation, 4.7 Science and academia, 4.7.1 An attempt at high commodity potential ecology, 4.8 Electricity sector, 4.9 Conclusion, Chapter 5 Systematic oppression, 5.1 Introduction, 5.2 Linking oppression and commoditization, 5.3 How to build community, 5.4 Conquest, money, and commoditization, 5.5 Commoditization and the oppression of indigenous people, 5.6 The legacy of colonialism in the modern global economy, 5.7 Commoditization and the oppression of women, 5.8 Commoditization and class oppression, 5.9 The underdevelopment of imagination, 5.10 Conclusion, Chapter 6 The institutional development of the commoditized economy, 6.1 Introduction, 6.2 European foundations, 6.2.1 France and Spain, 6.2.2 The United Provinces and Britain, 6.3 Preindustrial commercial institutions, 6.3.1 Legal Foundations of Capitalism, 6.3.2 Bills of exchange, insurance, and double-entry bookkeeping, 6.3.3 The \"Spirit of Capitalism\", 6.4 The rise of industrialism and the modern economy, 6.4.1 The context for the Industrial Revolution, 6.4.2 The Industrial Revolution, 6.4.3 The rise of the corporation, 6.5 The American experience, 6.5.1 Constitutional foundations and the legal impetus for development, 6.5.2 Reform and adaptation, Chapter 7 Ecology and commoditization, 7.1 Sustainable development and the challenge of ecology, 7.2 Ecological principles and economic implications, 7.2.1 Economic systems are subsets of ecological systems: the principle of ecosystem primacy, 7.2.2 Energy is the primary natural resource: the principles of entropy and conservation, 7.2.3 Efficiency is enhanced by working with natural flows and processes rather than against them: the principles of appropriate technology and ecosystem thinking, 7.2.4 Contradictory goals cannot be maximized at the same time and must be balanced: The principles of homeostasis and optimality, 7.2.5 Scale and level of organization matter: the principle of cooperative hierarchical organization, 7.3 Conclusion, Chapter 8 Toward a coordinated decommoditization strategy, 8.1 Introduction, 8.2 The policy wedges, 8.3 The role of participatory democracy, 8.4 The powers of government, 8.5 Steps in a decommoditization strategy, 8.5.1 Getting private money out of politics, 8.5.2 Supporting LCP public services, 8.6 Government reforms for decommoditization, 8.6.1 Protecting human rights, 8.6.2 Defense and public safety, 8.6.3 Government infrastructure for the provision of public goods, 8.6.4 Provision of public goods and services, 8.6.5 Government regulations for environmental protection, commerce, trade, and land use, 8.6.5.1 Trade, 8.6.5.2 Environmental protection, 8.6.5.3 Corporate influence, 8.6.5.4 Economic development and modernization, 8.6.6 Taxation, public spending, and the supply of money, 8.6.6.1 Tax policies, 8.6.6.2 Expenditure policies — subsidies and government purchases, 8.7 Credit policies, 8.8 Building a movement, References, Index