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INTEGRATION OF AN ECONOMIC WITH AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL
Citation:
Pawlowski**, C. W., H C. Cabezas*, A. Mayer*,A.L., AND N. T. Hoagland*. INTEGRATION OF AN ECONOMIC WITH AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL. Presented at Understanding Sustainable Development Models, Data, and Policy, Leibnitz, AUSTRIA, October 17 - 19, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
We summarize our work on integration of an economy under imperfect competition with a simple Lotka-Volterra type ecological model. Firms and households operate within a single period planning horizon, thus there is no savings or investment. Wages are set by a dominant employer. Profit maximizing firms set the supply and price of their goods before trades take place. The model keeps track of the stocks of goods. The system comprising economic actors and the ecosystem is closed to mass, meaning that labor and capital cannot be substituted for raw materials. The compartments comprising the ecosystem provide a recycling service necessary to maintain the flow of resources to the industrial sector.