This book presents social ecological economics as an emerging paradigm combining critical social science with structural realism to offer a radical, theoretically grounded, alternative economics based on ethical social provisioning and meeting needs. The foundations include its radical roots, philosophical presuppositions and preanalytic vision.

Our economies currently encourage excessive consumerism, weakening social ties, and depleting natural resources. Unfortunately, this is just the way economies have been developing. However, it is neither inevitable nor necessary. It takes a fresh economic vision to address these issues: a Green Economy. The concept of a "green economy" does not supplant sustainable development but instead places a fresh emphasis on a region's economy, investments pertaining to infrastructure, job and skill needs, and favourable social and environmental consequences.

This book adopts an integrated history and philosophy of science approach to consider the historical origins and methodological pitfalls of field experiments in economics. It explains key concepts such as control and randomization and identifies two distinct origins of field experimentation in economics: controlled laboratory experiments and randomized field trials.