August 29, 2014

Vis, Croatia

Ileana Apostol

2020 GREEN ACADEMY

ECONOMY@GREEN ACADEMY

ECONOMY WORK MODULE

Presentation Summary

• Working Process in the Economy Module

• Divergences on:

• Green Agricultural Policy

• Green Energy Policy

• Green Financial Policy

• Green Industrial Policy

• What is Next for Economic Policy and the Commons?

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Working Process

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Devise green economy policies, inspired by instantiations of praxis within an understanding of the commons as process

Two organizing principles of the content inquiry: – Economy as a tool for ecological transformation – Economic democracy as ultimate goal in operating the green economy

The work was distributed within four topics and tackled through two debate groups for each topic, based on the above principles

The group participants identified points of convergence and of divergence…

The Role of the State?

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Should the strategic plan on agriculture be imposed by the state? Is it possible to stimulate greening the finance through state intervention? What would be the role of the state in structuring the industrial strategy?

Future(s) of large corporations?

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How to transform the big agricultural corporations and large industrial companies? Shall the energy intensive industries (like aluminium, copper, steel using lots of subisidised energy) be shut down or left or re-oriented to different production?

Green Financial Policy

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Greening the Finance

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How to control corruption through transparency? Should private information on citizens’ incomes and property be publicly disclosed? What should be the ratio of minimum to maximum salary? Should donations from companies to political parties be banned and established a cap on private citizens? Should the "revolving doors" effect be banned? Should moratoriums for public servants becoming CEOs exist?

Alternative Financing

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Are conventional banks viable alternatives in financing green initiatives? Is micro-crediting a good option for sustainable business?

Green Agricultural Policy

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Green Agriculture

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What are the steps towards conversion to organic farming, how fast it should be? What are the triggers for farmers to convert to organic farming? Is it possible to make trade balance fairer under liberal market conditions? How to balance the tension between the costs of organic farming (usually higher if externalities are not taken into account) and affordability of organic products to all consumers?

Democratization of Agriculture

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Within a more democratic green agriculture, what should be the power structure, the rights to access, to organize and to own / held in common etc?

Green Energy Policy

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Greening the Energy

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How to stimulate greening the energy and what would be an ideal energy mix in the Western Balkans?

Democratization of Energy

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Whether privatisation of the big energy companies or liberalisation of the energy market is optimal for democratization? If energy production should be separated from distribution in terms of ownership?

Green Industrial Policy

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Greening the Industry

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Is the anti-capitalist agenda needed in structural changes within the ecological transformation? Is the green revolution incompatible with the capitalist agenda?

Are there solutions to internalize the environmental costs in the market based society?

Is privatization a solution for ecological transformation?

Is prosperity without growth possible?

Are the electric cars a solution?

Democratization of Industry

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If an ecosystem is more suitable than only clustering the industrial cooperatives, is it to be adopted for an entire lifespan (i.e. from kindergarten to retreat) or exposure to a diverse system?

Although controlled at the local level, what happens with the overseas environmental impact?

What international regulation (e.g. labor, environment) would be needed?

What is Next?

The Sumerian Shekel (3000 BC)

The Legal Code of Hammurabi (1728-1686 BC)

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… Convergences