A Book by John E Ikerd.

1. Sustainable Capitalism
A Matter of Common Sense
John E. Ikerd
DA 8000
Patcharawan Ubonloet
22 Feb 2015

2. Outline
• About the author
• Why Sustainable Capitalism?
• The First Principles:
A Matter of Common Sense
• Sustainability
How do we manage?
• Sustainable capitalism
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3. About the author
• Believed in neoclassical economic
and free market
• An agricultural economist
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4. Why Sustainable Capitalism?
• The pursuit of economic wealth is a pursuit of
individual, hedonistic and sensory pleasure.
• The pursuit of individual wealth encourages the
exploitation of others for self gain, which destroys
human relationships social happiness.
• Economic attempts to be a hard science by using
statistical and economic model to manage and
predict economic growth.
• Ikerd suggests that economic is “living principles”.
Social scarcity, matters of morality- environmental
ethics relates to truth and rightness cannot be
evaluated in dollars and votes.
Problem with neoclassical economics
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5. • Degeneration of exploitative, divisive society
resulting in rising unhappiness and eventually in
revolution.
• Negative ecological and social impacts
The rising ‘‘corporatism’’- domination of
corporations is the greatest threats to
sustainability are directly related to the industrial
approach to organizational management.
• It creates non-existing needs through advertising
leading to exploitation of global resources.
• No assurance of producing “the right stuff” to
meet today and future’s real needs.
• Capitalistic economy is incapable of
transforming individual self-interests
into society well-being.
Why Sustainable Capitalism?
Problem with capitalism
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6. 6
Impacts of capitalism
Why Sustainable Capitalism?
• Poor treatment of factory workers
• Negative ecological and political
impacts of industrialism.
• Polluters and extractors of nonrenewable
and renewable resources.
• Corporations disrupts local economies.
• Unfair economic system as social and
moral constraints to economic growth is
removed.

7. Why Sustainable Capitalism?
• Values in life
• Relationship among things
• Equity justice
• Ethic, morality and
intergenerational equity
along with growth and
development
• Ecological and social
implications
The return of classical economic principles
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8. The First Principles
A Matter of Common Sense
• A new economics of sustainability based
on principles of living systems, capable of
self-renewal and regeneration for present
and future generations.
• ‘‘ The First Principles’’ of classical
economics – the pursuit of happiness - not
just material well-being but relationships
with families, communities, cultures and
societal well-being instead of just the
pursuit of wealth.
• As a human we need for both caring and
sharing- a spiritual connectedness.
• Our Common sense tells us that ethics and
morality- care about others- matters in
creating economic of happiness, social
well-being and sustainability.
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9. Sustainability
Liveable evolution
Meet the needs of people today
individually and collectively
Preserving opportunity
for future generations
Sustainability: How do we manage?
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10. Sustainability: How do we manage?
Sustainability
Happiness and Quality of life
Public economy
Private
economy
C o m p e t i t i v e n e s s
M a r k e t/ E f f i c i e n c y / B a l a n c e s u p p l y & d e m a n d
Infrastructure
P h y s i c a l / F i n a n c e / L e g a l
G o v e r n m e n t
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Macro economic stability
Sustain economic development/
Economic & social integrity/ Profits shared/
Care for natural& social community
Moral/consensus/
rightness/relationship
Produce common goods to
equal rights people
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Sustainable Capitalism?
• Hearts and minds of people
• Common sense
understanding of the fundamental first
principles- enlightened concept of self-
interest.
• A return to the pursuit of a more
desirable quality of life
, not the financial wealth.
• An understanding
that a desirable quality of life depends
upon the rightness of our relationships
with each other and with the earth.
• Willingness
to return to the pursuit of happiness.
Begins with

12. Thank you
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