"Healing ecology through economy" should be the pivot going through Covid19 and the Great Lockdown. Where there has been an unprecedented catastrophic impact of Covid19 on public health, society and the economy, scientists have gathered several evidences that show, that the Great Lockdown has indeed also substantially healed the ecology.

Prior to the fall of Covid19 in December 2019, a consensus had emerged that global warming is the topmost important risk (Global Risk Report 2020) faced by humanity. The risk report was released on January 15, 2020 on the occasion of the World Economic Forum (WEF 2020). As the outbreak of Covid19 was ongoing in Wuhan, in WEF, there was a concern about climate change, but no one was expecting of a global-sudden-stop because of another event related to the lopsided relationship of human beings with the ecology.

Human beings are linked to ecology primarily through the economy.  In 1931, in his influential economic rule described in "The Economics of Exhaustible Resources", Harold Hotelling made the case for transforming natural resources into manmade resources through the financial intermediation process. In relation to human interaction with ecology, the Hoteling rule of thumb is simple. If there is a tree, and it is cut and transformed into timber with a cash value is $ 100. If the current saving accounts interest rates are 5%.  If the tree is not cut and sold for $ 100 and deposited in the bank for 5% interest income, next year the market value of the tree as timber must be at least $ 106, otherwise  it is beneficial to cut the tree and put the proceeds in a bank account and earn interest. This simple pivot of Hotelling rule has driven corporate strategies and public policies ever since. The consequence has been an excessive financialization - financial assets far exceeding the real economy at the cost of unprecedented ecological deterioration. 

The Hotelling rule of thumb also got support from another highly influential theorem presented by Ronald Coase (1966) in the "The Problem of Social Cost". To simplify, if cutting the tree and making it timber leads to unbalancing the natural level of CO2 for the society, then this an issue of market failure which exists due to the ambiguity of property rights and can be resolved by negotiating, namely the timber merchant paying compensation to the society for the loss of environment to CO2. The policy framework for resolving such externality issues was actually presented by Arthur C. Pigou (1928) in "The Economics of Welfare". The "Pigouvian Tax" is now heralded as the core solution for the ongoing ecological catastrophe that was only eclipsed by the Covid19 calamity and the Great Lockdown and Universal Sudden Stop.

A Hotelling philosophy supplemented by the Coasean bargaining and Pigouvian tax are the three pillars of economic policies that have led to excessive financialization and extracting resources beyond natural boundaries. Waste in land fields and waters plus CO2 fumes of incineration and industries, gross deforestation  have aggravated the ecological balance. 

About Economycs and Economyst   

Economy-cs (economycs): discipline to study the economy within the boundaries of ecology

Economy-st (economyst): person specialized in Economycs

Discontented with this disconnect of Economics from Ecology, we are making an effort to organize thoughts, knowledge, and information under one name "Economyst" who studies "Economycs". The spell-checker corrects the word “Economyst” to “Economist”, and "Economycs" to "Economics" but we do mean to use “Economyst” in place of “Economist” and "Economycs" in place of "Economics". The reason behind this insistence is the disillusionment with the discipline of Economics and the profession of Economists. The discipline of Economics and Profession of Economists have desperately failed in solving the problems of the economy, creating the ecological imbalances. One can even claim that the economists' profession is the cause of most of the perennial challenges of humanity, our world, and its species. The professional title that will be known as the “Economyst” will solve these problems and reverse their debilitating effects by healing the ecology through the economy. 

The “Economyst” will study the problems of the Economy including those of the Ecology and the stakes of future generations in our actions. As a foundational paradigm, the “Economyst” will learn from nature just like science has tremendously learned from it through bio-mimicking. The profession of the “Economist” has given shape to the waste-driven, and greed-based and excessively financialized market economy. To reverse the process, the profession of the “Economyst” will shape a zero-waste and zero-emissions, more compassionate and inclusive nature-based market economy. Nature does not waste through the many natural cycles, most vital being the water, oxygen, and food cycles. Nature has no record of wasting water or oxygen and the Economyst will learn from it in solving the problems of economy and ecology, while the Economist has gone against the natural laws by helping a waste-based economy. 

The Economyst will transform the instructional methods of economics and business schools and guide policies for a better world. A zero-Waste, zero-emissions, zero-financialized real market economy by its essence will be inclusive of ecology and future generations. Market discipline will gradually transform banking, financial and investment services to follow the respective universal impact criteria.  

Charities and businesses will agree on the universal impactful business criteria and will have a beneficial handshake to promote responsible businesses. zero-Waste, zero-emissions, zero-financialization will be the basis of such an agreement and handshake. Government and regulatory support will encourage such an alignment and blending of Charity and Business. 

Globally, already significant initiatives such as principles of responsible investments, banking, insurance are noteworthy. Localization of SDGs, and Circular Economy transition strategies offer a new direction. Much more needs to be achieved, to set up a new paradigm pivoting on the simultaneous healing of the ecology .and economy. Therefore, the Economyst’s role is more than being a responsible Economist - the two work in two different and competing paradigms. 

The Economyst works to set up an Economy based on Zero-Waste, Zero-Emissions, Zero-Financialization with a goal to serve the society inclusive of all stakeholders - ecology, people, and future generations.