Measuring green jobs through fuzzy logic: aimed at environmental conservation and socio-economic stability and inclusion

Abstract

The western model of development is experiencing a generalized crisis manifested by economic, political, ecological and sociological worldwide instabilities and heated popular responses sparking in several points of the globe. As illustrated by Kate Raworth in Doughnut Economics, 13% of the world population lives in a situation of food insecurity and 19% lives without electricity, meanwhile society experiences increasing rate of green gas emissions, biodiversity degradation, and deposits of reactive nitrogen. Aims at proposing an economic theory that supports access to basic human rights to every human being without depredating the quality of the environment have led a group of post-Keynesian/neo-Kaleckian economists to push for a framework that couples economic stability with concerns related to the broader social and environmental systems. To contribute to the newly intensified push of a post-Keynesian/neo-Kaleckian ecological economics, the present article introduces a metric for green jobs, using non-dichotomous measurements as proposed by “fuzzy logic,” as a tool to operationalize economic policies such as an ecological employment-guarantee program, for instance.

Keywords:

• Ecological economics
• fuzzy logic
• green jobs

Notes

1 Although the differences between Kalecki’s and Keynes’s work is acknowledged, the paper relies on the idea that current theoretical development initiated by their followers are compatible and complementary (Nuti 2004; Rochon, Czachor and Bachurewicz 2020).

2 Fuzzy logic has been extended to handle the concept of partial truth, where the truth value may range between completely true and completely false. Furthermore, when linguistic variables are used, these degrees may be managed by specific functions (Hajek 2010).

3 The technical aspects of the use of fuzzy logic go beyond the scope of the present paper for more information see Lofti Zadeh (1965).

4 “Human and Development Index: Methodology and Measurement” by Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen. Accessed December 16, 2021. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/oc12.pdf.

5 https://unfccc.int [Last visit 16 December 2021].

6 How to export Qatar http://www.brasilglobalnet.gov.br/arquivos/publicacoes/comoexportar/cexcatar.pdf [Last visit July 7, 2015].

7 There are several other important considerations before implementing policy envisioning greening jobs. For instance, commodity supply chains tend to pass through all these sectors. The ability or not to capture these nuances, however, depends on the collection of the data rather than the formulation of the index.

8 These sectors are highly heterogenous among them, thus, to serve as a guide for an ecological macroeconomic policy, the level of analysis needs to be more disaggregated, data collection in the direction mentioned above would be fruitful.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natália Bracarense

Natalia Bracarense, North Central College, Economics, 30 North Brainard street, Economics, Naperville, IL 60540, USA. His an associated researcher at SciencesPo Toulouse (France). A PhD in economics at the University Missouri-Kansas City and a Master in Data Science, Dr. Bracarense does research in international political economy and works as a consultant for the OECD. Additional affiliation: LEREP S–SciencesPo Toulouse 21 allee de Brienne – CS 88526 31 685 Toulouse Cedex 6.

Paulo Bracarense Costa

Paulo Bracarense Costa, Universidade Federal do Parana Setor de Ciencias Exatas, Statistics, Curitiba, 81531- 990, Brazil. Bachelor in Statistics at the University Federal of Paraná, Master in Statistics and Agronomic Experimentation at University of São Paolo, PhD in Production Engineering at University Federal of Santa Cataria/ University of South Florida in the United States and Master in Public Policy with joint degree at Humboldt University of Berlin and European Viadrina University of Frankfurt (Oder), Dr. Bracarense Costa is a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Statistics at UFP R. Author of ten books, some dedicated to applied statistical techniques and others related to social and environmental issues, he has taught various courses in postgraduate programs and has been an ad hoc consultant for the International Labor Organization. He is a member of several research groups including the Center for Research in Energy, Public Policy, Finance and Technology of Paraná and the NIMAD, Interdisciplinary Center for Environment and Development. Dr. Bracarense Costa worked as Special Advisor to the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, as Director of the Department of Regional Actions and Social Technologies, Director of the Center for Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE) and member of the Strategic Affairs Unit of the Presidency of the Republic (NAE).