Integration of Approaches to Social Metabolism Into Democratic Economic Planning Models

Abstract

The integration of environmental issues in democratic economic planning models is the object of ongoing debates. Environmental factors cannot be only reduced to economic indicators, rendering economic models unable to properly account for ecological limits. By focusing on our societies’ biophysical needs, the concept of social metabolism opens new avenues to answer such problems. This paper presents two sociometabolic models and their limits to explore how this perspective could inform democratic economic planning models.