I'm a fan of Herman Daly's economic writings. Herman Daly wrote an excellent textbook, Ecological Economics, and the book has helped define the field. Others who have been inspired by his writing contribute to The Daly News and it is a blog that I regularly monitor. Finally, Herman Daly is well known for his writing on the need for a steady-state economy instead of one that always tries to grow GDP year-over-year (is persistent GDP growth sustainable or does it eventually become uneconomic?).

In 2014 Dr. Daly received the Blue Planet Prize in Tokoyo. He took the opportunity to revisit his work on Full World Economics and you can find his recent article Economics for a Full World at the The Great Transition website. I believe Daly is revisiting this work because he regards it as one of his more important contributions to economic thought and because he had some refinements to add.

One refinement is the suggestion that there are different types of limits that economists could differentiate and indentify more precisely when discussing a particular "limit". What type of limit is it?

1. A Futility Limit
2. An Ecological Catastrophe Limit
3. An Economic Limit

Another refinement is his identification of 10 policies for a steady state economy.

1. Developing Cap-Auction-Trade systems for Basic Resources
2. Tax Shifting
3. Limiting Inequality
4. Reforming the Banking Sector
5. Managing Trade for the Public Good
6. Expanding Leisure Time
7. Stabilizing Population
8. Reforming National Accounts
9. Restoring Full Employment
10. Advancing Just Global Governance

I encourage you to read his Economics in a Full World if you want to examine these limit and policy ideas in more detail along along with many other ideas that Dr. Daly has worked on under the rubric of "Full World Economics".

As we come into election season, perhaps some of Dr. Daly's policies and ideas will be discussed as options for managing our own governance.