Why develop biological economics?

The reform of economics is not a question of adding new dimensions to the neoclassical economic theory. A theoretical revolution is required at the core of economics itself. Geoffrey Hodgson.

• The other economy-environment disciplines are not encompassing enough to cover the most important areas of the impact of the socioeconomic system upon the biological system.
• Natural resource economics deals only with the economics (supply, demand and prices) of some important natural resources e.g. fossil fuels.
• Environmental economics studies the economic activity in relation to the physical environment as far as contamination, depletion etc. are concerned. Ecological Economics establishes the relationship between the ecology of a system and the socioeconomic activity taking place in it.
• Biological Economics is concerned moreover, with the larger biological system and in addition is concerned with the interactions at the interface of socioeconomic and biological activity systems when the former impacts the latter.
• Also, these other disciplines have investigated the socioeconomic and environmental phenomena in a reductionist and fragmentary manner and by a disciplinary methodology not suitable for studying these complex and interactive phenomena.
• These problems are neither due to socioeconomic causes alone nor due to biological causes alone but are the result of interactions; that is they are bioeconomic problems requiring holistic investigation with interdisciplinary methodology.
• Bioeconomics has the objective of taking the bull by the horn and really and truly deal with the real problems of the real world. In other words Bioeconomics is based on the realism imperative having as its components environmental realism (the environment cannot take it anymore due to increasing contamination and population; economic realism (economic growth according to the present model cannot continue due to biological resource depletion); social realism ( inequitable wealth distribution); biological realism (the many biological discontinuities) and ethical realism ( the public will not tolerate the many uncouth and unethical conducts of business people and their accounting cronies.
• Bioeconomics advocates a cooperative, benevolent capitalism. It is against the savage capitalism practised now. However, it is not against capitalism per se because human socioeconomic activity has to create wealth in order to better the lot of the poor majority.
• The time is propitious now to develop a type of business activity with an integrated long-term vision which gives as much importance to affective non-economic components such as confidence, trust, solidarity, and fraternity than the one we have now with hard pure benefit as its principle motive. Industrial Revolution has advanced the culture of maximisation and with great velocity so much so that unless we make real endeavour our interpersonal relations will be, slowly, but surely eliminated by the law of the market. But the same market which can be, and is, a place to gain wealth also can be a place to animate the flowering of these relations. The proposed new business activity is the Bioeconomic Business Activity whose activists are to make sure that those who most enjoy the planet’s biological wealth and humanity’s manufactured wealth will help to construct a world more equal economically, more just socially, more participative culturally, more concerned with the biosphere environmentally and more responsible ethically.
• Bioeconomics is an innovative paradigm for unifying the various spheres of human endeavour .It is an integrative science for producing a third culture: Culture of Synthesis
• Bioeconomics provides for an alternative between the old and the new economy: Economics of the Third Way whose mantra is to end the only way: Neoclassical Capitalism.