About
115
Publications
39,557
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
2,667
Citations
Introduction
Ecological economist working on economic development and societal metabolism, from a bioeconomics perspective.
Currently, I am a Full Professor Serra Húnter in economics at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
March 2021 - April 2021
October 2020 - June 2021
September 2016 - June 2020
Education
September 2000 - June 2001
September 1999 - October 2005
September 1999 - June 2000
Publications
Publications (115)
This article aims to analyze the repercussions of food trade between China and various regions of the world to understand the dynamics of food flows and offer a novel perspective on the contemporary globalization process. Understanding these flows involves analyzing the global production and commercialization of food and the effects of these moveme...
The extended abstract presents the first results of the estimation of externalization levels of Spain through its energy transition towards 2030. . It represents a first step towards building the Calliope Spain model adapted from EuroCalliope. This first portion of the work presents the trade emissions balance for Spain for 2010 and 2015 using an I...
One of the main lines of research of the Barcelona School of Ecological Economics is representing the economic process from its biophysical side. In particular, this chapter focuses on the biophysical analysis of food systems in Latin America. The different approaches presented allow for comprehensive biophysical representations of food systems tha...
This paper analyses the impact of two interventions on women's empowerment in Ecuador using an experimental design. Women's empowerment is operationalized by using two metrics: first, the participation of women in the decision process at household level and, second, the disagreements between men and women in the decision process. We find negative e...
Ecuador enfrenta un profundo estancamiento económico desde la caída de los precios del petróleo en 2014, agravado por medidas de contracción económica y la pandemia del covid-19. Aunque la renegociación de una parte de la deuda externa ha aliviado los problemas fiscales más inmediatos, el servicio de la deuda continúa siendo excesivo y la incertidu...
Food self-sufficiency is a relevant political issue in many countries, developed and developing, particularly to satisfy the internal nutritional needs of the population and face situations in which the prices of basic products are unstable or when a country faces an external shock. Improving resilience involves strengthening local rural communitie...
El objetivo central de esta investigación es examinar las repercu-siones del modelo de desarrollo orientado hacia la exportación de productos primarios y alimentos en los ámbitos económicos, ambientales y nutricionales en los países sudamericanos en el periodo 1986-2018. El modelo primario-exportador ha provocado impactos negativos en términos econ...
El objetivo central de esta investigación es examinar las repercusiones del modelo de desarrollo orientado hacia la exportación de productos primarios y alimentos en los ámbitos económicos, ambientales y nutricionales en los países sudamericanos, en el período comprendido entre 1986-2018. La investigación indica que, lejos del supuesto de la econom...
An economy based on primary products is present in most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. These remain focused on the export of unprocessed materials and goods, with little added value from knowledge and technology, which creates a development gap with technologically advanced countries and regions. By using a set of 5 quantitative indi...
The main goal of this special issue is to present a set of studies that
are meant to provide original scientific contributions to potentially
support policy discussions and take decisions focused on energy, environment
and well-being. All together they provide a remarkable result
of energy policy oriented research and applied cases, which can be
co...
The rate of CO2 emissions concentration in the atmosphere increasesthe likelihood of significant impacts on humankind and ecosystems. Theassumption that permissible levels of greenhouse gas emissions cannot exceed the global average temperature increase of 2 ºC in relation to pre-industrial levels remains uncertain. Despite this uncertainty, the di...
![Global carbon emissions and primary energy, 1971–2013. Source: [21].](publication/332660366/figure/fig1/AS:11431281390001870@1745233000927/Global-carbon-emissions-and-primary-energy-1971-2013-Source-21_Q320.jpg)
The rate of CO2 emissions concentration in the atmosphere increases the likelihood of significant impacts on humankind and ecosystems. The assumption that permissible levels of greenhouse gas emissions cannot exceed the global average temperature increase of 2 °C in relation to pre-industrial levels remains uncertain. Despite this uncertainty, the...
Entre los imaginarios construidos y posteriormente pues-tos en debate durante el siglo XX, uno que tomó especial fuerza y expresión a través de políticas públicas e institucionalidad, tanto dentro de los Estados nacionales como a nivel global, fue el relato que equiparaba la idea del consumo y el progreso material con el bienestar y el progreso soc...
This paper analyses the impact of two interventions on women's empowerment in Ecuador using an experimental design. Women's empowerment is operationalized by using two metrics: first, the participation of women in the decision process at household level and, second, the disagreements between men and women in the decision process. We find negative e...
The global energy system is highly dependent on fossil fuels, which covered approximately 90% of primary energy sources in 2016. As the quality and quantity of oil extracted changes, in response to changes in end uses and in response to biophysical limitations, it is important to understand the metabolism of oil extraction-i.e. the relation between...
Del petróleo a la bio-inteligencia. Cambio de matriz productiva y economía del conocimiento. Discurso, realidad y proyecciones del caso ecuatoriano Revista Estudios Avanzados 29, abril 2018: 105-120. Resumen Este artículo pretende analizar críticamente y exponer el proceso de apropiación y explotación de los recursos en Ecuador, el cual se vincula...
Supporting small farmer livelihoods in fragile, biodiverse regions, such as tropical forests, is a priority for many development agencies and national governments. These regions tend to be characterized by recent human settlements, increasing populations and infrastructure development, as well as competitive land use activities, which exert pressur...
This article analyzes the structure of knowledge gaps between the North and South, defining as such the creation of ideas that affect the generation of knowledge and technology for development. We show evidence that there is a strong nucleus of converging causes of different origins that explain these gaps or unequal development structures. On the...
In the last decades, taking advantage of the ecomodernist approach to nature conservation and sustainability (the so-called “new conservation”), the ecosystem services have become enormously popular. One controversial aspect, accompanying the raise of this approach, is the monetary valuation of ecosystems and ecosystem services based on an instrume...
The impact of food production patterns and food supply upon consumption patterns is usually explained by economies of scale and affordability. Less attention is given to food trade patterns and global insertion of economies affecting dietary changes. This paper contributes to the discussion using the concept of caloric unequal exchange that defines...
Although renewable energy represents a large share of the electric energy generation sources in Latin
America, non-conventional sources such as solar or wind energies have not represented a big share of their
electric energy systems. The first step to promote the use of these sources in the region is identifying the
potential of each energy source,...
resumenEl café y el cultivo del cacao es la principal fuente de ingresos para los pequeños agricultores de la región norte del Amazonas en Ecuador. A medida que la zona fronteriza, estos agricultores se beneficiaron de varias instituciones públicas y privadas, principalmente destinadas a reactivar la producción de café y cacao. El objetivo era mejo...
The existence of an unequal exchange between rich and poor countries has been well studied in the literature, explained by differences in labour costs that were reflected in the prices of traded goods. Research has also demonstrated that the failure to include environmental impacts in prices of traded goods concealed an ecologically unequal exchang...
El libro Energy, complexity and wealth maximization («Energía, compleji-dad y maximización de la riqueza»), de Robert Ayres, es la última contribución de este gran científico al análisis energético, tan desaparecido de nuestras facultades. Junto con autores como James Kay o Tim Allen (ecología) o Vaclav Smil (sistemas energéticos), el trabajo de Bo...
Objective
To differentiate the effects of food vouchers and training in health and nutrition on consumption and dietary diversity in Ecuador by using an experimental design.
Design
Interventions involved enrolling three groups of approximately 200 randomly selected households per group in three provinces in Ecuador. Power estimates and sample size...
Los científicos del cambio climático han establecido el límite de aumento de temperaturas
en 2°C a partir del cual el proceso sería completamente irreversible. Este nivel viene
determinado por la concentración de CO2 en la atmósfera. Evitar sobrepasar este umbral
implica dejar de utilizar una cantidad ingente de combustibles fósiles que hoy en día...
A continuación se detallan las fuentes estadísticas utilizadas para la elaboración de la base de datos y la información recogida en el anexo estadístico. De igual modo, se presentan las hipótesis de cálculo y los procedimientos seguidos para superar algunas lagunas de información. Para que puedan verse mejor ambas circunstancias, se presenta la inf...
The soy expansion model in Argentina generates structural changes in traditional lifestyles, which can be associated with different biophysical and socioeconomic impacts. To explore this issue, we apply an innovative method for integrated assessment—the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism framework—to characterize t...
Rural change in Cambodia manifests itself in rapidly declining land availability for the smallholder sector, posing the question of how farmers may be able to deal with limited access to land. In this paper, we discuss with a case study village and household livelihood strategies of smallholders currently operating under land-constrained conditions...
Abandoning fossil fuels and increasingly relying on low-density, land-intensive renewable energy will increase demand for land, affecting current global and regional rural–urban relationships. Over the past two decades, rural–urban relationships all over the world have witnessed unprecedented changes that have rendered their boundaries blurred and...
The demands placed on land, water, energy and other natural resources are exacerbated as the world population continues to increase together with the expectations of economic growth. This, combined with concerns over environmental change, presents a set of scientific, policy and management issues that are critical for sustainability.
Resource Acco...
In this chapter we use MuSIASEM to explore the metabolic pattern of rural Punjab, with a special focus on the economic viability and ecological feasibility of the specialization of its economy in food grain production. We show how remittances from abroad and subsidies from the central government tied to the National Food Security Bill maintain a re...
This chapter shows how MuSIASEM can be employed to generate an integrated assessment of the feasibility, viability and desirability of alternative energy sources, and more in general to characterize scenarios of alternative exosomatic metabolic patterns of society. The analysis focuses both on the potential contribution (quantity) and convenience (...
This chapter provides a detailed example of an application of the MuSIASEM toolkit using Mauritius as a case study. It shows the application of both the diagnostic mode, characterizing in quantitative terms the actual metabolic pattern across scales and dimensions, and the simulation mode, checking the feasibility, viability and desirability of pos...
This chapter shows how human activity and socio-economic characteristics can be integrated in
the MuSIASEM accounting to assess the feasibility and viability of a given socio-ecological
system. It presents a comprehensive grammar for human activity to represent and quantify the
allocation of this fund element within human societies and couples it w...
Introducción E l sector agroproductivo que engloba a los pequeños productores de la Amazonía norte del Ecuador se centra fundamentalmente en la producción de café y cacao, toda vez que involucra a la gran mayoría de agricultores (97%). No obstante, la zona centro y sur de la Amazonía del país se desta-ca por mostrar amplias áreas destinadas a la ga...
This report presents the results of the application of an integrated analysis approach,
the Multi-Scale Integrated Assessment of Society and Ecosystem Metabolism (hereafter
MuSIASEM), to three case studies: (i) An analysis of the option to produce biofuel
from sugarcane in the Republic of Mauritius; (ii) An exploration of the future of grain
produc...
Human wellbeing relies upon the availability and wise management of food, energy and water. These are basic production factors ‘flowing’ within the economic system and their management is important to maintain the ecosystem which regulates the conditions for life. The interconnections between these resources, what is usually called the food, energy...
Cambodia is currently experiencing profound processes of rural change, driven by an emerging trend of large-scale land deals. This article discusses potential future pathways by analyzing two contrasting visions and realities of land use: the aim of the governmental elites to foster surplus-producing rural areas for overall economic growth, employm...
In this commentary we critically discuss the suitability of payments for ecosystem services and the most important challenges they face. While such instruments can play a role in improving environmental governance, we argue that over-reliance on payments as win-win solutions might lead to ineffective outcomes, similar to earlier experience with int...
This paper is to examine the proper use of dimensions and curve fitting practices elaborating on Georgescu-Roegen's economic methodology in relation to the three main concerns of his epistemological orientation. Section 2 introduces two critical issues in relation to dimensions and curve fitting practices in economics in view of Georgescu-Roegen's...
Reservados todos los derechos. Prohibida la reproducción en todo o en parte por ningún medio mecánico, fotográfico o electrónico, así como cualquier clase de copia, reproducción, registro o transmisión para uso público o privado, sin la previa autorización escrita del editor de la revista.
The serious food crisis in 2007 has reinstated the issue of food security. In particular, it evokes an old set of questions associated with the sustainability of an adequate food supply: are we facing a systemic shortage of arable land for food production? How serious is the oil dependence of food security in relation to peak oil (the point in time...
The link between energy consumption and economic growth has been widely studied in the economic literature. Understanding this relationship is important from both an environmental and a socio-economic point of view, as energy consumption is crucial to economic activity and human environmental impact. This relevance is even higher for developing cou...
This paper applies the so-called Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM), based on Georgescu-Roegen's fund-flow model, to the Spanish region of Catalonia. It arrives to the conclusion that within the context of the end of cheap oil, the current development model of the Catalan economy, based on the growth of...
The multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach makes it possible to perform a check on the feasibility and desirability of patterns of metabolism of socio-economic systems by providing a characterization at different levels and scales of: (a) the performance of socio-economic activities (for households,...
This paper presents an outline of rationale and theory of the MuSIASEM scheme (Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism). First, three points of the rationale behind our MuSIASEM scheme are discussed: (i) endosomatic and exosomatic metabolism in relation to Georgescu-Roegen’s flow-fund scheme; (2) the bioeconomic analogy...
The methodology of Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal Metabolism (MSIASM) is applied to analyze the Chinese economy. This paper presents four tasks: (i) identifying a set of benchmarks that makes it possible to compare various characteristics of the Chinese economy with those of other country groups and the world (level) average; (ii) expl...
Economic development goes hand in hand with an increase in the consumption of natural resources. Some analysts use material flows to describe such relationship [Eurostat 2001, Weisz et al., 2006], or exergy [Ayres et al., 2003]. Instead this paper will use a characterisation of the exosomatic energy metabolism based on expected benchmark values to...
This paper applies the so-called Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) to the economy of the Spanish region of Catalonia. By applying Georgescu-Roegen’s fund-flow model, it arrives at the conclusion that within a context of the end of cheap oil, the current development model based on the growth of low produ...
The methodology of multi-scale integrated analysis of societal metabolism (MSIASM) is applied to the analysis of the recent evolution of Chinese economy. This paper has two goals: (1) to show the MSIASM scheme is effective in handling in an integrated way different types of data, mixing extensive and intensive variables, on different levels; and (2...
El artículo presenta una aplicación de las metodologías de Análisis de Flujo de Materiales y Análisis Integrado Multi- Escala del Metabolismo Social (MSIASM, siglas en inglés) para la caracterización de modelos de desarrollo económico de Brasil, Chile, y Venezuela, mediante la utilización combinada de datos económicos y de uso de energía y material...
In these years the growing concern for both global warming and peak oil has put the energy issue back on the front burner of the political debate. In technical terms, this implies looking for alternatives to fossil energy as the primary energy source powering the economic process of modern economies. This paper (the second of series of two) present...
Many claim that biofuels represent a viable and desirable alternative to fossil energy fuels. This paper (the first of a series of two) provides a critical appraisal of the claim that a large scale move to biofuels is either feasible or desirable for powering the economy of a developed country. This conclusion is based on an integrated analysis of...
The goal of this paper is to illustrate an innovative methodology, multi-scale integrated analysis, developed for dealing with the new challenges implied by multi-criteria analysis of sustainability: an integrated assessment of sustainability requires a multi-dimensional and multi-scale analysis (technical incommensurability); when comparing human...
This paper presents two applications of the multi-scale integrated analysis of societal metabolism (MSIASM) approach. The first application shows that accounting the metabolism of a society in both economic and biophysical terms supports a better understanding of mechanisms determining evolutionary trajectories. This is done by analysing the constr...
Economies are open complex adaptive systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium, and neo-classical environmental economics seems not to be the best way to describe the behaviour of such systems. Standard econometric analysis (i.e. time series) takes a deterministic and predictive approach, which encourages the search for predictive policy to ‘correc...
From a thermodynamic point of view economies are open systems far from equilibrium, and neo-classical environmental economics is not the best way to describe the behaviour of such systems. Standard economic analysis takes a continuous, deterministic and predictive approach, which encourages the search for predictive policy to 'correct' environmenta...
La relación entre el PIB y el transflujo de materiales y energía en el tiempo para las sociedades modernas es crucial para entender la relación entre la sustentabilidad y el crecimiento económico. En este articulo, por medio de tres metodologías diferentes, se usa información disponible sobre las cambios en el uso de la energía y el comportamiento...
This paper presents an application of the Multiple-Scale Integrated Assessment of Societal Metabolism to the recent economic history of Ecuador and Spain. Understanding the relationship between the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the throughput of matter and energy over time in modern societies is crucial for understanding the sustainability predi...
Entender la relación entre el PIB y el transflujo de material y energía a lo largo del tiempo en las sociedades modernas es crucial para entender la relación entre la sustentabilidad y el crecimiento económico. En este artículo se usa información disponible sobre los cambios en el uso de la energía y el comportamiento de la economía española (en el...
Las economías son sistemas complejos abiertos, lejos del equilibrio termodinámico, y la economía neo-clásica no parece siempre la forma más adecuada de describir su comportamiento. El análisis econométrico tradicional toma un punto de vista determinista y predictivo, que fomenta la búsqueda de políticas predictivas para "corregir" los problemas amb...
