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Ecological Interaction as a Source of Economic Irreversibility
Author(s) -
Kahn James R.,
O'Neill Robert V.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
southern economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 2325-8012
pISSN - 0038-4038
DOI - 10.1002/j.2325-8012.1999.tb00254.x
Subject(s) - extinction (optical mineralogy) , mercury (programming language) , economics , ecology , natural resource economics , environmental science , geology , computer science , biology , paleontology , programming language
Irreversibility can be either physical or economic in origin. For example, the extinction of a species is physically irreversible. On the other hand, contamination of lake‐bottom sediments by mercury is not physically irreversible (the mercury and/or sediments can be physically removed), but the cost is so high that it can be said to be economically irreversible. This paper argues that economic irreversibility associated with environmental change is much more common than typically discussed in the economics literature. The source of the problem is the inherent complexity of ecological relationships. The paper discusses the origin and policy importance of these indirect irreversibilities.