ABSTRACT
The residuals of production processes can be considered to be ‘pollution’, the focus of this chapter, which, from a conventional economics perspective, is an inevitable part of economic life. The chapter begins with the neoclassical economists’ view of pollution as part of a trade-off – if we wish to have the goods then we will have to endure the pollution that the production generates. The chapter then moves on to explore a regulatory approach to tackling pollution, which begins from the assumption that it is a social and political, rather than a market, problem. The view of ecological economists and industrial ecologists, that we should work more closely with nature, is outlined. Finally, we close with the fundamental questions about what pollution is, and what it is about our economy that generates it in the first place. The closing case study considers one specific example of pollution: the scourge of global plastic pollution.
