The Riches of the Ocean for Humankind: Rethinking Value in Economics and Development

• Main Author: Orio Giarini
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Risk Institute, Trieste- Geneva 2014-05-01
• Series: Cadmus
• Online Access: http://www.cadmusjournal.org/article/volume-2/issue-2-part-3/riches-ocean-humankind-rethinking-value-economics-and-development

We acknowledge the inadequacy of the ancient model to develop the wealth of nations and the recognition that both economics and ecology are the best possible ways to manage world and human resources to achieve a better wealth of nations. The rebuilding of economics and of a credible strategy for increasing the wealth and well-being of nations is today at the center of the problem of providing a sound basis for the legitimacy and credibility of public institutions and governments. If the dichotomy between traditional economic goals and new ecological and environmental requirements for sustainable development will not credibly combine, the political consensus and the legitimacy of governments at the local, national, and international levels will have a tendency to produce on the new liberalizing world disaggregation effects that could be as extensive as those witnessed in former Marxist countries. The oceans are a fundamental part of this patrimony and Elisabeth Mann* should be remembered for her very important dedication on this issue.