This paper addresses the issue of possible land use strategies and responses in coastal zones as a consequence of global environmental change. It will first set out some key elements in global change that are of critical importance for the water and land management in such areas. Next, it will...

We explore the idea of public policy from the perspective of evolutionary thinking. This involves paying attention to concepts like diversity, population, selection, innovation, coevolution, group selection, path-dependence and lock-in. We critically discuss the notion of evolutionary progress....

Guiding a transition to low carbon electricity requires a good understanding of the substitution of old by new technologies in the electricity industry. With the aim of explaining historical change from coal to gas in the British electricity industry, we develop a formal model of technological...

This article examines the role of group dynamics and interactions in explaining economic behavior and the evolution of institutions. Our starting point is the large literature on group selection in the biological, behavioral and social sciences. We present a range of interpretations of group...

An important barrier to the implementation of strict environmental regulations is that they are perceived to negatively affect a country's competitiveness, visible through changes in international trade. Whereas theoretical analyses of trade and the environment indicate that relatively strict...

Various types of economic model address environmental problems. This article examines whether these can be applied to the analysis of material flows. It is important to know which types of model are most suitable to deal with particular economic, environmental or physical aspects of material...

This paper addresses the issue of possible land use strategies and responses in coastal zones as a consequence of global environmental change. It will first set out some key elements in global change that are of critical importance for the water and land management in such areas. Next, it will...

This paper presents a theory of institutional change that builds upon a synthesis of theoretical insights from the literatures on group selection and socio-economic power. Based on a critical reading of relevant studies in sociology, political science and philosophy, we propose a taxonomy of...

The values of goods and services provided by natural and constructed wetlands are examined through a meta-analysis of 418 observations of the economic value of 186 wetlands. Water quality improvement, non-consumptive recreation, and provision of natural habitat and biodiversity turn out to be...