从增长到稳态:赫尔曼·戴利的可持续发展思想评述

From growth to a steady-state economy:a review of Herman Daly’s thoughts on sustainable development

赫尔曼·戴利对可持续发展的理论、指标、政策等有独到的研究,“目的-手段”框架是其可持续发展思想的集中体现,认为可持续发展应该聚焦最终目的——福利水平和最终手段——自然资本,为了能够可持续地利用自然资本来提升福利水平,现行的增长经济应该转型为稳态经济;经济增长具有生物物理属性,受到热力学定律、行星边界等制约,因此无限增长是不可能的;当边际环境和社会成本大于边际经济收益,经济增长就会成为“非经济增长”,因此无限增长是不必要的。稳态经济是增长经济的替代,主张在生态环境的承载能力内增进居民福祉,要求物质财富存量实现高效和公平合理利用,是实现可持续发展的较好途径。该研究围绕可持续发展要求增长经济转型为稳态经济这条主线,有内在逻辑地就“经济生产的新视角”“无限增长的不可能性”“无限增长的不必要性”“稳态经济与可持续发展兼容”等戴利可持续发展思想的主要方面进行评述,深化了可持续发展的理论研究。在此基础上,该研究提出戴利的可持续发展思想可以从另一个视角为中国当下的高质量发展提供理论支持和启示,为研究中国的高质量发展打开理论视野。

As a leading scholar in the field of sustainable development research,Herman Daly developed original and unique thoughts on sustainable development that have had world-class impacts on the theories,indicators,and policies in this field.Based on the framework of‘Ends-Means,’Daly's thoughts on sustainable development focus on the Ultimate End(well-being improvement)and the Ultimate Means(natural capital).Daly advocated that to use natural capital to promote human well-being in a sustainable manner,the current growth economy has to be transformed into a steady-state economy.Because economic growth has biophysical properties and is restricted by many factors,such as the laws of thermodynamics and planetary boundaries,unlimited growth is impossible.When its marginal ecological and social costs begin to be larger than its economic benefits,economic growth would turn into uneconomic growth.In this sense,unlimited growth is undesirable.As an alternative to the growth economy,the steady-state economy advocates promoting human well-being within ecological limits and demands that stocks of material wealth be used efficiently and equitably.The steady-state economy is one of the most effective ways of achieving sustainable development.Along the main line of transforming the growth economy into the steady-state economy,as required by sustainable development,this paper reviews Daly's main thoughts on sustainable development on the following topics:‘a new perspective of economic production,’‘unlimited growth is impossible,’‘unlimited growth is undesirable,’and‘the steady-state economy is compatible with sustainable development.’Based on this review,the paper points out that,Daly's thoughts on sustainable development provide theoretical support and ideological implications for China's high-quality development from a different perspective,and broaden the theoretical horizon of China's high-quality development.