Istota i wartościowanie kapitału naturalnego w ujęciu ekonomii ekologicznej
Essence and valuation of natural capital from the ecological economics perspective

Summary/Abstract: Manners of interpretation and valuation of natural capital belong to pivotal issues in all streams of environmental economics. The paper is an attempt to present in a concise way what is the approach of ecological economics towards those questions. A starting point for the author is the analysis of differences between neoclassical environmental and natural resources economics and ecological economics with regard to the scope of substitutability between natural and anthropogenic (man-made, physical) capital. He proves, among other things, that ecological economics emphasizes the domination of complementarity and not substitutability (with the latter prevailing in neoclassical environmental economics) relation between these two kinds of capital, as well as the significance of resilience of ecosystems for long term durability (sustainability) of growth. In the second part of the paper, the author focusses on the perception of natural capital and its measurement from the perspective of eco-goods and, particularly; ecosystem services (such approach dominates in ecological economics). In the final part of the paper; the issue of valuation of natural capital is discussed.

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