Arturo Hermann, Edoardo Pizzoli (p)

Dario Cascione

As we know, also by looking at the slow progress of the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development, attaining the objectives of “strong sustainability” is a process anything but easy. Also for this reason, there is among radical ecologists and heterodox economists an ample consensus on the shortcomings of the neoclassical economics’ uncritical appraisal of the “optimality” of market mechanisms and the related notion of homo oeconomicus. However, there is little agreement on what alternative economic theories/policies are better suited for realising an equitable and sustainable economy.
In our work we aim to cast some light on these tangled aspects by focusing attention on some central issue of the complex transition towards an equitable and sustainable economy. For instance, what should be the role of public and private action? Should private markets exist and in what terms? And what should be the role of public sector and policy action in promoting these goals? How democracy and participation ─ for instance through a process of democratic planning ─ can be fostered in policy action, and at the same time contribute to realise these objectives?
In the analysis of these issues, a better collaboration between radical ecology and heterodox economics can help clarify important aspects. In this light, we will address, in particular, the contributions of deep ecology, ecosocialism, bioeconomy, degrowth and steady state theories, on the side of radical ecology; and the insights of Evolutionary and Institutional Economics and post Keynesian and Modern Monetary Theories, on the side of heterodox economics.
In this way we try to highlight a number of largely unexplored synergies between radical ecology and heterodox economics - both between themselves and within their various strands - that can help clarify important aspects of these complex issues, with particular attention to their contributions to devise an alternative political economy of sustainability.

Dario Cascione (p)

Edoardo Pizzoli

Agriculture is one of the primary sector in the economy, necessary to ensure the food security in developing region. Productivity of this sector is measured and monitored over time at statistical level, as a key economic indicator. This sectoral perspective of the economy does not consider the present context of development and the sustainability at planet level.
The process of globalization has linked local economies in a global market and raised transnational issues, such as climate change and related migrations of fauna and flora in different regions. With these, new harmful organisms threaten some local historic crops. Some examples of structural breaks of natural resources due previously unknown diseases and parasites are evident in the Mediterranean area.
Which measurements and data are useful for policies to keep the planet’s productive capacity? How should be expanded the accounting system for agriculture and the food sector to respond to the new policy needs? In this paper, in the light of some examples of real problems in the Mediterranean area, the necessary information developments will be analyzed.

Edoardo Pizzoli (p)

Dario Cascione

UN SNA (System of National Accounts) and EU ESA (European System of Accounts) are going to be updated through a process of periodic “benchmarking” of the accounts, which has been carried out approximately every 10 years since the first publication in 1953 (subsequent versions are: 1960, 1968, 1993 and 2008). The EU version, ESA, follows the UN editions, incorporating and eventually expanding the innovations introduced by UNSTAT.

The project “Towards the 2025 SNA” has further innovated the system of accounts, considering the new policy priority of “sustainable development”. Following the publication of SEEA-CF (System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, Central Framework) in 2012, which integrates the economic and environmental dimensions, a further dimension is increasingly becoming an integral part of the system: social accounting.

In this article, the innovations, their potentials and the limits of the new proposals in terms of measurements and information provided will be discussed, also considering the current leap in IT technologies and the possible application to a heterogeneous area such as the Mediterranean.