Taming the Dragon
Transforming Economic Institutions in the Face of Global Change
Carlo C. Jaeger(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 3. November 2025
Book
Hardback
324 pages
978-1-041-14699-5 (ISBN)
Description
In the early 21st century, environmental risks such as climate change, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, large-scale migrations, and conflicts over critical resources have become our lived reality in a world where nearly 8 billion people struggle to thrive. These crises have proven impossible to address without fundamental transformations of our economic institutions-exactly as predicted in this groundbreaking work. First published in 1994, Taming the Dragon offers a careful investigation of the processes that have led to global environmental change. It is based on a new and original analysis of economic mechanisms as the result of complex processes of cultural evolution. This analysis enables the author to develop both a short-term strategy and a long-term perspective for managing the global environmental crisis. Demonstrating how and why world economic and environmental policies are dangerously out of sync with each other, Jaeger arrives at an understanding of human reality that stresses the importance of interpersonal relations both in private life and within the world economic system itself.
Reviews / Votes
Reviews of the first publication:'[A] masterful piece of work, carefully thought out, well organised...Presented clearly with little ambiguity...at present, there is no comprehensive, interdisciplinary analysis of the central questions of human ecology...Jaeger's is a truly interdisciplinary treatment of the subject'.
- Gerald R. Young, Washington State University
'The intellectual level of this book is excellent. Taming the Dragon makes significant contributions to the fields of human ecology, environmental economics, and environmental sociology. The ideas contained is this book are substantial.'
- Robert Brulle, George Washington University
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
760 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-041-14699-5 (9781041146995)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
approx. 01/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€54.00
Not yet published

E-Book
11/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€41.99
Available for download

E-Book
11/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€41.99
Available for download
Person
Carlo C. Jaeger is a sustainability scientist with a background in economics, sociology, and human ecology. He is co-founder and chairman of the Global Climate Forum. Jaeger's current research is focused on problems of global coordination, especially in view of sustainable development.
Content
Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Accountable Animal 3. The Evolution of Human Ecological Systems 4. The New Enlightenment 5. Transforming the Economy 6. Managing the Environmental Crisis