K. William Kapp archive

Picture from: http://www.kwilliam-kapp.de/photos.htm

Karl William Kapp
Kapp Research Center
Level: advanced
Perspectives: Ecological Economics, Institutionalist Economics
Topic: (De-)growth, Criticism of Capitalism, Economic History, Institutions, Governments & Policy, Microeconomics & Markets, North-South Relations & Development, Reflection of Economics, Resources, Environment & Climate, Social movements & Transformation
Format: Website
Link: http://www.kwilliam-kapp.de/pubList.htm

Karl William Kapp (1910-1976) was one of the forefathers of Ecological Economics. Influenced by the Frankfurt School, Institutionalist Economics and Pragmatist Philosophy, he contributed to debates on the social costs of production, economic planning, sustainable development and epistemology. His systematic analysis of the social costs of production, which goes beyond presenting environmental disruption as isolated and external effects (dubbed "externalities"), is perhaps the most famous and relevant contribution to economic theory, arguing for the need for the rational planning of production, rather than just ex-post measures like fines and taxes.

This archive contains open access copies of most of his written work, including his books.

Comment from our editors:

This archive is of interest for anyone looking for research and teaching material on Institutional Economics, Ecological Economics, Development Economics and History of Economic Thought. It includes important writings on social costs and the environment, sustainable development, the unification of social sciences, economic planning and the teaching of economics. Kapp was an influential thinker of his time and participated not only in academic debates but also in policy-making. However, the ascension of the economic orthodoxy led him to be added to the long list of relevant economists most economics students have never heard about. His approach is particularly relevant for those interested in environmental policy.

Go to: K. William Kapp archive

This material has been suggested and edited by:

Ricardo Coelho
Tags: development | ecological economics | Emerging economies | growth | history of economic thought | mainstream critique | markets | methodology | philosophy of science | social ecological transformation | socio-economics | teaching
To Grow or Not to Grow?
2020
Level: beginner
To Grow or Not to Grow?
Environmental catastrophe looms large over politics: from the young person’s climate march to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, increasing amounts of political space are devoted to the issue. Central to this debate is the question of whether economic growth inevitably leads to environmental issues such as depleted finite resources and increased waste, disruption of natural cycles and ecosystems, and of course climate change. Growth is the focal point of the de-growth and zero-growth movements who charge that despite efficiency gains, increased GDP always results in increased use of energy and emissions. On the other side of the debate, advocates of continued growth (largely mainstream economists) believe that technological progress and policies can ‘decouple’ growth from emissions.
Cahal Moran
Rethinking Economics
Industrial Policy: Love it or Hate it?
2018
Level: beginner
Industrial Policy: Love it or Hate it?
Ricardo Hausmann says the new industrial policy is an information revelation process about the state of possibilities, the nature of the obstacles and figuring out whether you can sort out the obstacles so that these new activities can take over.
Ricardo Hausmann
Center for International Development at Harvard University
Plurale Lehre in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
2021
Level: beginner
Plurale Lehre in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
In diesem Beitrag zeigen wir auf, welche Entwicklungen in der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Lehre an der Universität Göttingen 2007 zur Gründung einer Hochschulgruppe führten und wie diese die Lehre an der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät um eine pluralistische Perspektive ergänzt hat. Im Zuge dessen werden wesentliche Defizite der Lehrsituation aufgezeigt, das Kooperationsverhältnis mit der Fakultät erörtert und die gruppeninternen Prozesse, die der studentisch gestalteten Lehre zugrunde liegen, diskutiert.
Anne Berner, Franziska Dorn, Christian Ochsner, Alexander Silbersdorff und Lukas Wolfinger
VS Springer
The Political Economy of Inequalities
2021
Level: beginner
The Political Economy of Inequalities
Exploring Economics, an open-access e-learning platform, giving you the opportunity to discover & study a variety of economic theories, topics, and methods.
Jürgen Essletzbichler, Andrea Grisold, Hendrik Theine
Exploring Economics
Finance and Crisis: Marxian, Institutionalist and Circuitist approaches
2014
Level: advanced
Finance and Crisis: Marxian, Institutionalist and Circuitist approaches
Most mainstream neoclassical economists completely failed to anticipate the crisis which broke in 2007 and 2008. There is however a long tradition of economic analysis which emphasises how growth in a capitalist economy leads to an accumulation of tensions and results in periodic crises. This paper first reviews the work of Karl Marx who was one of the first writers to incorporate an analysis of periodic crisis in his analysis of capitalist accumulation. The paper then considers the approach of various subsequent Marxian writers, most of whom locate periodic cyclical crises within the framework of longer-term phases of capitalist development, the most recent of which is generally seen as having begun in the 1980s. The paper also looks at the analyses of Thorstein Veblen and Wesley Claire Mitchell, two US institutionalist economists who stressed the role of finance and its contribution to generating periodic crises, and the Italian Circuitist writers who stress the problematic challenge of ensuring that bank advances to productive enterprises can successfully be repaid.
Georgios Argitis, Trevor Evans, Jo Michell, Jan Toporowski
Institute for International Political Economy Berlin
Marx und Ökologie
2022
Level: beginner
Marx und Ökologie
In dem Vortrag von Ehrenfried Galander mit anschließender Fragerunde wird die Frage behandelt, inwieweit es im Werk von Karl Marx eine systematische Behandlung ökologischer Fragen gibt. Galander, der an der Herausgabe der Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) beteiligt ist, beantwortet diese Frage mit einem klaren Ja.
Ehrenfried Galander
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Thüringen

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