Learning Economy: a New Hope to Achieve a Sustainable Economic System

Abstract

Advances in science and technology have improved industrial productivity and competitiveness and greatly improved standards and quality of life. These same factors have been the source of the current instability and have created new issues requiring complex expertise and technology. This paper is based on the content analysis paradigm and the system analysis method. Given the limitations of the classic and neoclassical economic model, new approaches to environmental economics and innovation have been analyzed, and the challenges of achieving sustainable development and its components have been addressed. The future of humanity depends on whether it can develop an economic and social system with the “operational capacity” of mass and energy that respects ecological constraints, and this is the ultimate challenge for the economic systems in the future. However, as a realistic view, nobody can deny the importance of the other economic theories, and it is suggested to use the historical experiences and information to improve the economic systems, not to abandon what human society has achieved. Based on the obtained analytical results, the framework for selecting policy tools, the characteristics of each, and the time of using these policy tools to promote sustainable development are presented. This study shows that despite rapid economic growth, the world is reaching a point that there will be no capacity for more net harvest from nature. This paper suggests sustainable economics to stabilize sustainable economic growth and save vital resources from being depleted.