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Publication
The circular economy : an ancient term that became polysemic
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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Today, Circular Economy (EC) is a popular concept in the business and financial world, among
academics, politicians and decision-making bodies, and governmental and non-governmental
institutions. Since 2003 has been intensely produced and published academic and non-academic
literature. But despite this growing enthusiasm - and as far as we know so far - there are topics related
to EC that remain under discussion, perhaps because they have not yet been the subject of sufficiently
clarifying and multidisciplinary analysis. In this article, we intend to contribute to the clarification of
some of these topics. The topics were chosen according to the questions that were installed in the
author's mind of this article as she reviewed the literature on EC (the scientific areas in which the author
is included are Environment and Natural Resources Economics and Ecological Economy). The topics
under discussion are as follows: 1) Neoclassical economists also use the EC concept; will this be equal to
the current concept of EC? 2) Some authors have argued that EC is an entirely new concept; however,
the circular functioning of the economy was already described by economists in the 18th century. In the
end, we want to demonstrate: 1) That EC is a polysemic term; that is, although the EC of neoclassical
economists is different from the current EC, both share a common root: circularity; 2) The term EC is not
new because its genesis lies in the 18th century; 3) the current concept of EC is also not new, because it
has been described since the 1960s; 4) What is truly new in today's EC is the recognition and
internalization of its principles by the business and governmental worlds. To achieve our objective, we
were based on the critical analysis of the literature, supported by the theoretical body of conventional
neoclassical economics (micro and macro); Ecological and Environmental Economy; and the History of
Economic Thought.
Description
Keywords
Circular Economy Circular Model of Monetary Flows Circular Throughput Model Linear Throughput Model
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Mendes, Isabel .2020. "The circular economy : an ancient term that became polysemic". Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão. DE Working papers nº 2-2020/DE/SOCIUS/CSG
Publisher
ISEG – Departamento de Economia