ABSTRACT
Before examining international restructuring and its local consequences, in more detail, it is important to address the theoretical concern that lies at the heart of the economic-development process. To what extent has economics been able to incorporate environmental considerations within its governing paradigm? In drawing attention to ecological factors and their relationship to social structure, we need to be able to specify the circumstances under which they are taken into account and become part of the economic modelling process. Is it possible to ‘internalize’ the externalities that economists identify with the achievement of economic growth, and that, as we have seen, seriously handicap the capacity of poor households to reach sustainable objectives? In this chapter several different approaches to economic behaviour and environmental values are examined: differences within neo-classical economics, ‘deep’ ecological positions and Marxist theory.
