From Old Economics to New Economics- Radical ... - Bruce Nixon

disproportionate representation in the informal and subsistence sectors limit women’s economic
advancement. Sociocultural attitudes, employment policies and a lack of options for balancing work
and family responsibilities or for controlling the timing and spacing of births contribute further to
inequality in the labour market. 6
A more fundamental point, however, relates to our definition of the ‘economy’. That is, work
– in an economic sense – is equated with paid work. Furthermore, ‘paid work’ is equated with
work in the formal economy. Clearly though, many of the activities that take place within an
economy – particularly within families and communities – do not fall into this category, yet it
is difficult to say that they are not ‘work’ in any meaningful sense. Feminist economists have
been arguing for years that the formal economy is entirely dependent upon this parallel
economy to support and maintain it.
Therefore, while it is vitally important to remove the obstacles that exist to women’s options
in the world of formal work, it is also the case that we need a more holistic approach to
measuring what the economy actually consists of, and to devising appropriate ways to reward
those whose fundamental contribution has hitherto been ignored.
As well as these income, wealth and gender differences, developing countries are being – and
will increasingly be – more affected by climate change than will the rich countries that are the
primary cause of the problem: the citizens of the developing world are more likely to live in
the geographical areas of the world that will be most affected by climate change; are more
dependent on the climate due to the predominance of agriculture as a livelihood; and are more
vulnerable and thus less able to adapt to the impact of the changing climate.
The reality of man-made climate change is now incontrovertible: in its most recent report, the
authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes the rise in mean
global temperatures over the past half century as being ‘very likely’ the result of man-made
climate change: eleven of the past 12 years between 1995 and 2006 are among the 12
warmest years on record from the middle of the nineteenth century.
The industrial development we have seen over the past two centuries has resulted in a huge
increase in the quantity of carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon concentration in the atmosphere
stood at 381 parts per million (ppm) at the end of 2006, and is now increasing at a rate of
around 2 ppm per year. The current concentration is far in excess of the natural range of 180-
300ppm for the last 650,000 years.
Furthermore, as shown in chart 1.3. below, the annual addition to these concentration levels
continues to rise, and the majority of the increase in the last decade can be the growth of the
global economy (65%), with the remainder being the result of the greater carbon intensity of
the economy (17%) and the decline in the efficiency of our ‘natural sinks’ (18%)
In the first decade of the 21st century we have already seen appreciable increases in mean
global temperatures, as well as greater unpredictability in global weather patterns. If we do
nothing and continue on our current trajectory the outcomes are clear: accelerating global
warming and a transition to ‘runaway’ climate change, where feedback loops kick-in to
hugely increase the global effects.
6 UNMP (2006)
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