ABSTRACT
Ecological economics points out that the magnifying effect may be more important than conventionally thought, as the accumulative effect must be taken into consideration. As environmental damage is considerable, for ecological economists changing trade regulations is crucial to foster sustainable development. Ecological economists maintain that trade has beneficial effects for sustainability only if it occurs within an institutional framework that explicitly accounts for the natural capital on which social and economic developments depend. Most suggestions by ecological economists have in common the idea that policy analysis can be approached from a cost-effectiveness perspective, combined with one or multiple criteria other than efficiency. To conclude, since the economy is embedded in the social and the bio-geophysical sphere instead of uniform liberalisation, a trading framework is favoured which, while multilateral, non-discriminatory, rule-based and global, promotes open markets only on the basis of clear social and ecological norms.
