Coordinators:

Maurizio Franzini (University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy), franzini@unisi.it

Klaus Kubeczko (Austrian Institute of Technology, Austria), klaus.kubeczko@arcs.ac.at

The complexity of environmental damages calls for a deep transformation of the epistemological foundations of the economic science under an evolutionary perspective. Recent environmental phenomenon's require an interdisciplinary approach to cope with their intrinsic complexity and to produce the appropriate policy options.

Economy-Environment interactions call for an interdisciplinary analysis focused not merely on the exchange or market value, neither on the use value of a natural resource. it is necessary to consider in this new complex system also resources' existence and option values.

One central notion to be investigated by the research area is that of Global Environment: environmental problems do not respect national boundaries and they could manifest themselves by a cumulative and irreversible process, enhancing future risk of catastrophes. Recent polluting phenomena may increase environmental disasters on a global scale. But they also raise new opportunities for sustainable development. It is thus essential to understand promptly the implications for sustainability associated to the new features of globalisation.

The Research Area on Economy-Environment Interactions will therefore focus on the new dangers and opportunities brought about by the process of globalisation on environment and on the institutional setting that might be designed in order to conciliate the health of the biosphere with sustainable world development.