Herman Daly, 1938-2022, was (and is posthumously) the unquestioned champion of steady-state economics. Throughout his career, Daly swam courageously upstream in the river of political economy. Not content to bequeath his brilliance solely to the academic realm, he spent seven years as a senior economist at the World Bank for policy reform in the real world. He also wrote books popular with concerned, serious citizens around the world, including For the Common Good (with John Cobb) and Beyond Growth. His textbook, Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications remains the gold standard for steady-state economics.
Daly’s awards reflect the importance and goodness of his work. Among others were the following:
-
-
-
-
- Blue Planet Prize
- Grawemeyer Award
- Heineken Prize
- Leontief Prize
- Right Livelihood Award
- Sophie Prize
- Lifetime Achievement Award (National Council on Science and the Environment)
-
-
-
Daly was not just a leading scholar and policy reformer, but also an inspiration to students of economics and public policy. How often do you see students lining up at the end of the semester to have the professor sign their textbooks? They did with Daly!
Daly served on the CASSE board from 2005 until his passing in 2022, and was a key advisor throughout.
For more on the scope and influence of Herman Daly’s work, read the festschrift edited by long-time collaborator Joshua Farley.