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Peter A. Victor (economist)

Peter A. Victor PhD, FRSC, is a Professor Emeritus at York University. He has worked for over 50 years in Canada and abroad on economy and environment issues as an academic, consultant and public servant. His most recent books are Escape from Overshoot, Economics for a Planet in Peril (2023), ''Herman Daly's Economics for a Full World. His Life and Ideas (2022) and Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster'' (2008, 2019). Peter Victor's work on ecological economics is widely cited and has been recognized through the award of the Molson Prize in the Social Sciences by the Canada Council for the Arts in 2011, the Boulding Memorial Prize from the International Society for Ecological Economics in 2014, and election to the Royal Society of Canada in 2015.

Work

Academic Work

Peter Victor began his academic career in 1970 when he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK). In 1972 he published two books based on his doctoral work at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In Pollution: Economy and Environment (1972, 2017), Victor presented a novel theoretical framework for extending input-output analysis to include material flows between the economy and the environment, based on the principle of materials balance. He applied the framework to the Canadian economy using data from a wide variety of sources. The framework has been adopted and adapted by researchers around the world and by national and international statistical agencies. In Economics of Pollution (1972) Victor gave a succinct account of what economics could contribute to an understanding and resolution of environmental problems. It was translated in Spanish and Greek.

From 1973 to 1996, Victor worked as a public servant and private consultant (see below). He continued to teach part-time at York University and the University of Toronto and to write about economy and environment. His paper 'Economics and the Challenge of Environmental Issues', (1979), was included in Economics, Ecology, Ethics (H.E. Daly ed, 1980), and 'Indicators of sustainable development: some lessons from capital theory' (1991), was the most frequently cited paper by a Canadian author in Ecological Economics from 1990-2003.

Victor resumed his full-time university career in 1996 when he was appointed Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto, a position he held for five years. In 2001, at the suggestion of Professor Gideon Rosenbluth, who had supervised his doctoral research at UBC, they began revisiting their discussions of 30 years previously of the problem of economic growth. Together they published several papers (Victor and Rosenbluth, 2004, 2007, 2008). Their work culminated in Victor's book Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster (2008) which attracted worldwide attention. It included a description of the system dynamics simulation model, LowGrow, developed by Victor, and scenarios for the Canadian economy that showed how slower and no economic growth could be compatible with improved environmental, economic and social outcomes.

Victor's book attracted the attention of Tim Jackson who was serving as Economics Commissioner on the Sustainable Development Commission (UK). Subsequently, Victor and Jackson collaborated on the development of ecological macroeconomics, integrating environmental and social factors into macroeconomic models. Over the next decade they published several co-authored papers and book chapters (see Publications). Their work led to the development of LowGrow SFC, an empirically grounded simulation model of the Canadian economy, that was made publicly available and has since been run thousands of times by interested users. LowGrow SFC is featured in the second edition of ''Managing without Growth. Slower by Design, not Disaster'' (2019) where it is used to show that improved environmental and social outcomes are possible even as the rate of economic growth declines to zero.

In 2018 Victor approached Herman Daly with the idea of writing his biography. Daly agreed, was interviewed extensively by Victor, and reviewed drafts of all chapters in ''Herman Daly's Economics for a Full World. His Life and Ideas'' (2022) checking for factual errors. Eighteen months later Victor published ''Escape from Overshoot. Economics for a Planet in Peril'' (2023). This book, written for a wide audience treats climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, contamination of air, land and water, food shortages and more as symptoms of the same problem: Overshoot. ''Escape from Overshoot. Economics for a Planet in Peril'' covers an expansive terrain, including:

●    An overview of the evidence of Earth overshoot.

●    A systematic approach to thinking about the future based on the future cone.

●    A concise review of economic ideas and about how the economic system works, including neoclassical, Keynesian, Marxist, ecological economics, and steady-state economics with an eye to the current crisis.

●    A description of current economic, social, technological, and environmental trends and their implications for humans and the planet.

●    An analysis of the limitations and possibilities of alternative escape routes such as green growth, doughnut economics, regenerative economics, degrowth, and more.

●    An escape scenario for the Canadian economy from a simulation model that includes all material and energy inputs, waste outputs, and Canada's ecological footprint, as well as conventional economic indicators.

●    Fourteen propositions that provide the foundation for planning an effective and equitable escape from overshoot.

●    Illustrations of how lives could be improved and the requisite policy, social and economic changes.

Public Servant

In 1973 Victor joined the newly created Ontario Ministry of the Environment as Senior Economist along with Jack Donnan from the USA. They were the first economists hired by the Ministry. They co-authored a detailed report ''Alternative Policies for Pollution Abatement. The Ontario Pulp and Pater Industry'' (1974) that included a mill-by-mill analysis of abatement costs. A 95 page summary of the report plus appendices became the subject of debate in the Ontario Legislature and front page news in the Globe and Mail Newspaper. (Donnan and Victor, 1975)

Consultant  

Victor left the Ministry of the Environment in 1977 to join Middleton Associates, a consulting company working on renewable energy, where he authored reports on electric power planning and solar energy. At Middleton Associates Victor met economist Terry Burrell and in 1979 they established Victor & Burrell and Consulting which quickly became a leader in Canada in the application of economics to environmental and energy issues.

In 1985 Victor joined a team of seven energy experts funded by the Canadian International Energy Agency (CIDA) to assist the newly formed Ministry of Energy in Kenya. Victor was the renewable energy advisor on the team. He spent two and half years with his family in Kenya working primarily on the economic and social aspects of wood energy.

Returning to Canada in 1987, Victor & Burrell added two more partners, Ed Hanna and David Heeney, to become VHB Research and Consulting. Victor continued to write reports primarily for the federal and provincial governments on economics and policy relating to environment and energy.

Public Servant Again

With the election of a New Democratic government in Ontario in 1990 (check date) opportunities opened up for more progressive policies on many fronts. Victor was hired in 1991 as Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) for the newly formed Policy Division where, among other responsibilities, he was charged with bringing the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), a signature priority of the government, through the legislative process into law. Victor was soon moved to ADM of the much larger and well-established Environmental Science and Standards Division, which he reorganized based on function (research, monitoring, programs) rather that environmental media (air, water, waste) to make it more efficient. He maintained responsibility for the EBR which was enacted into law in 1993 (check date) while overseeing existing responsibilities and new initiatives across the Division. In 1996 he left the Ministry to be Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University.

Books

''Escape from Overshoot. Economics for a Planet in Peril,'' New Society Publishers, 2023

''Herman Daly’s Economics for a Full World. His Life and Ideas.'' Routledge, 2022

Managing without growth: slower by design, not disaster Second edition, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019

The Handbook on Growth and Sustainability (co-editor with Brett Dolter), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017

The Costs of Economic Growth (ed), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013

Managing without growth: slower by design, not disaster, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008

Energy and the Quality of Life (with C. Hooker, R. van Hulst, and R. Macdonald), University of Toronto Press, 1981

Economics of Pollution, London: Macmillan. (Translated into Spanish and Turkish), 1973

Pollution: Economy and Environment, London: Allen and Unwin; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972, Republished by Routledge, 2017

Academic Papers

Herman Daly's Great Debates, Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy, (accepted for publication)

The Macroeconomics of a Green Transformation: The Role of Green Investment, Making the Great Turnaround Work, (2020) Heinrich Boll Siftung, Economic and Social Issues, 55-65, 27,

The Transition to a Sustainable Prosperity-A Stock-Flow-Consistent Model

Ecological Macroeconomic Model for Canada, Ecological Economics, 177 (with T. Jackson)

Cents and Nonsense: A Critical Appraisal of the Monetary Valuation of Nature, (2020) Ecosystem Services, 42, 101076

Unraveling the claims for (and against) green growth, (2019) Science, 22 November, 950-951 (with T. Jackson)

The Energy-Emissions Trap, (2018) Ecological Economics, 151, 10-21, (with Martin Sers)

Casting a Long Shadow, Ecological Economics, (2016) 127, 156-164, (with Brett Dolter),

Does Slow Growth Lead to rising Inequality? Some Theoretical Reflections and Numerical Simulations, (2016) Ecological Economics, 121, 206-219, (with T. Jackson)

Does credit create a ‘growth imperative’? A quasi-stationary economy with interest-bearing debt, (2015) Ecological Economics, December, 120, 32-48, (with T. Jackson)

Ecological Economics: A Personal Journey, 2015, Ecological Economics, Feature Article, January,109, 93-100

Growth, degrowth and climate change: a scenario analysis, (2012) Ecological Economics, 84, 206-212

A Commentary on UNEP'S Green Economy Scenarios, (2012) Ecological Economics, 77, pp.11-15, (with T. Jackson)

Living Well: Explorations into the End of Growth, (2012) Minding Nature, 5, 2

Productivity and Work in the New Economy – Some Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Tests, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, (2011) 1, 1, 101-108, (with T. Jackson)

Canada, Britain, and the Drive to Restore Economic Growth, (2011) British Journal of Canadian Studies, 24, 1, 19-29 (with A.G. Hallsworth)

Ecological Economics and Economic Growth, (2010) Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1185, 237-245

Scale, Composition, and Technology, (2009) Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 29, 5, 383-396

Managing without Growth, (2007) Ecological Economics 61, 492-504, (with G. Rosenbluth)

The Canadian Economy with Full Employment, No Growth, No Poverty, and No Government Deficit: A Keynesian Exercise, (2004) International Journal of Workplace and Employment, 1, 1, (with G. Rosenbluth)

Graduate Learning for Business and Sustainability, Journal of Business Administration and Policy Analysis (1999) 167 (with D. Wheeler and D. Horvarth),

How strong is weak sustainability? (1995) Economic Appliquée, XLVIII, 2, 75-94. (with J.E. Hanna and A. Kubursi) Republished in S.Faucheux, M. O'Connor and J. van der Straaten (eds.), Sustainable Development: Concepts, Rationalities and Strategies

(1998) Kluwer Academic Publishers, and in J. Martinez-Alier, and I. Ropke (eds), Recent Developments in Ecological Economics, (2008) Edward Elgar Publishing

Indicators of sustainable development: some lessons from capital theory, (1991) Ecological Economics, 4, 191-213. Reprinted in R. Costanza, C. Perrings, and C. Cleveland (eds.), The Development of Ecological Economics., (1997) Edward Elgar Publishing

Environment, development, and energy planning in St. Lucia, (1984) In Planning for People: Human Ecology and Development in Canada and the Caribbean, a special edition of Environments, 16, 3, 136‑143. (with D. Morley and P. Wilkinson)

An economic and environmental forecasting model, (1974) Industrial Wastes, November/December.

The macroeconomics of pollution, (1972) Technology and Society, 7, 4, November.

Ecology and economy (1972), Your Environment, III, 1, Spring, (with A. Coddington)

On the dynamics of air pollution control, 1970 Canadian Journal of Economics, III, 3, August, (with D. Donaldson)