Contenu du sommaire : Environment, innovation and sustainable development

The message is now clear: Development must become sustainable. Throughout the world, in both poor and rich countries, many initiatives have been taken thanks to the involvement of citizens. However, the results of this mobilization are well below what is needed to face the situation. The global societal production model we use is divided into five spheres: autonomous (individuals), social (NGOs or other), State (governments), profit making establishments (companies), and the democratic sphere. Deadlocks come about when one sphere develops at the cost of others thereby dominating the entire system. The profit making sphere has locked us into the dead end of growth. How did we get here? What are the challenges we face? How can responsible innovations contribute to freeing the global societal production system and overcoming the deadlock? This article aims to contribute to this debate.JEL Codes: Q01, L2

This paper tackles the issue of how to make the process nature of services more visible in the characteristics-based service innovation model developed by Gallouj and Weinstein (1997). We argue that the invisibility of the service process in the original model is likely to reduce the use of the model for detailed-level analyses within individual services. In our supplemented model four new aspects are added: a separate category for the process characteristics, the ‘front office - back office' division, the customer's technology and process, and the distinction between direct and indirect utilities. We apply our model in two empirical cases, which depict knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) and consumer services.JEL Codes: L80, O30, O33

Australia's food bowl is the Murray-Darling River Basin (MDRB) which is under great stress due to salination and drought. An agreed path for resolution of the concerns of specific regional and corporate interests along the whole Murray-Darling river system has not yet emerged. This paper focuses on agricultural production in a river basin and the ecosystem processes relating to climate change, water supply and carbon emissions. The simulation model presented is for a generic river basin as the first step. In the paper, this regulated river basin model is integrated with an existing macroeconomic model, the aim being to provide a rigorous instrument for planning and management. What is anticipated from the study is an evidence-based decision system for saving the MDRB from collapse, then identifying policies for the system to generate sustainable farming and grazing.JEL Codes: C15, E12, Q02, Q18, Q25, Q57

This paper is part of a large ongoing field research project dealing with economic activity in Greece performed without the use of any official currency. The schemes studied range from parallel currencies to free bazaars and from specialized exchange networks to businesses accepting used public transport tickets as partial payment by customers. Exchange and bazaars often take place via fairs and parties, some of which have already become famous and attract hundreds of people, although most of the schemes are quite recent and still develop. The scope of this paper is, therefore: a) To present the theoretical, connected to environment, issues that the project aims to deal with, and b) To present the findings of the first, qualitative stage of the field research that might enlighten us on how the environment as an idea and motive leads people to invent new ways of transacting.JEL Codes: E49, P49

A growing number of firms are beginning to integrate sustainable development practices into their activities. This article uses both the analytical framework of the economics of convention, as well as that of contemporary evolutionist theory, to present an overview of the degree to which these activities contribute towards this new challenge. The economics of convention helps to account for the compromises proposed to make the different spheres of sustainable development mutually compatible. These compromises are then expressed in evolutionary routines which will be used by firms on a daily basis. This theoretical reflection is accompanied by empirical research on for-profit public network services.JEL Codes: Q01, L2, O14, L87, L9

Following the Brundtland Commission in 1987 (United Nation, 1987), numerous reports have condemned the impact of human activities on the environment, with the result that “sustainable development” has become a major issue for society. The move towards creating more sustainable cities, as described in the New Charter of Athens (ECTP, 2003), is a clear reflection of these concerns. The present article examines this final category of alternative techniques, focusing on urban stormwater management systems, which are designed to avoid the problems rainwater runoff can cause in urban environments, such as erosion of urban surfaces, floods, traffic disruption, and disruption to urban activities in general. More precisely, the barriers of uptake of innovation for sustainability in urban stormwater management systems are discussed.JEL Codes: Q01, Q25, R, L32, H75

This study is exploring the effects of nano-copper postharvest spraying on parsley, stored at the market temperature of 20°oC for 10 days and at the storage temperature of 5oC for 23 days, aiming at its shelf life extension. Nano-Cu- treated plants showed significantly lower CO2 production than control at both storage temperatures. Spraying with Nano-Cu, parsley displayed the lowest weight losses at high and low temperature. Parsley leaves revealed high respiration rates with high moisture loss, which was inhibited by the application of Nano-Cu. Nano-Cu was also able to protect samples from lipid peroxidation after 23 days, since they were found to contain lower levels of MDA than control samples, while Nano-Cu treated parsley retained significantly higher ascorbic acid concentrations than the control. Nano-Cu application induced a prevention of the disturbances in the photosynthetic electron transport and the damages to the thylakoid structure occurring during storage. In addition, an inhibitory effect of Nano-Cu on yeast growth and TVC was observed. Spraying of harvested parsley with Nano-Cu seems like a promising shelf life extension technique, although attention should be given on the possible ecotoxicity of its widespread use.

Our model shows that it is possible to support high per-capita income in a developed country even in the situation of low/falling production margins, simply, by boosting its monetary supply. In the run-up to the 2008 crisis, generation of new moneys was indeed accelerating. Handled by the private industry via leveraging/derivatives, it carried no perceived risks/costs to the public. After the crisis, which showed otherwise, stricter regulation is placing monetary generation in the public domain, via sovereign debt accumulation. We show that, by putting pressure on discretionary income of nations and consumers, the growing debt stimulates high-margin industries promoting distinct country-wide comparative advantages by eroding anything else. The related rise in joblessness puts pressure on salaries, while local markets shrink in favor of a super-efficient global center-satellites system. This creates unique advantages for a few thriving credit oases: China, Brazil…, which become a magnet for global hi-tech companies.

JEL classification: H5, H6, E8.