I haven't actually read the Dasgupta review, only that first link you shared. Overall I think EAs probably don't disagree that much with what Dasgupta is saying but probably focus on other things due to neglectedness. Even if economics doesn't account for nature enough, there are still loads of people shouting about the the negative effect we have on nature, and this review was actually commissioned by the UK Government so they are clearly aware of the problem. It's also hardly news that GDP isn't a perfect measure. Compare this to things like biorisk and risk from unaligned AI which important people generally don't think about.
Otherwise a few things jumped out to me from that first link:
Biological diversity is, in fact, declining faster now than at any time in our history. Since 1970, there has been on average almost a 70% drop in the populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Around one million animal and plant species – almost a quarter of the global total – are believed to be threatened with extinction.
Beyond its intrinsic – and incalculable – worth, biodiversity provides fundamental natural “dividends” that nourish and protect us: from basic sustenance through fish stocks or insects that pollinate crops, to soil regeneration, and water and flooding regulation. Not to mention the cultural and spiritual values that enrich our lives.
Dasgupta doesn't appear to have factored in animal welfare. Fish "sustaining" us probably isn't a great thing (unless perhaps some people literally don't have any other options) and reduction in wild animal populations could actually be good if they live net negative lives (which is quite possible).
The review also refers to 'intrinsic' value of biodiversity. I'd imagine EAs mostly reject this thinking biodiversity only has instrumental value.
Thank you for raising this though, I'm hoping to read the report (or maybe a good summary!) and it's possible that the EA community should too. If natural capital is indeed important in sustaining economic development then it is an important consideration from a long-term perspective.
Very light, initial impression:
The EA community is at least somewhat intellectually diverse, and on this particular topic I think there are probably some people in the EA community who may be quite sympathetic to the idea. I'll add the important caveat, though, that I merely skimmed the abstracts/introductions for those links, so I don't know exactly what all he argues for. If he is simply saying "nature is an important factor in health, economic inputs/resources, leisure, etc." then that does not sound so model-shattering. Still, I am a bit skeptical of any kind of "Here's this one thing [especially something associated with lots of sentiment/political buzz, like "nature"] that economists have inexplicably left out of their models, and it changes everything"--e.g., skeptical of its significance in general, skeptical that economists have truly left it out of their models if it is significant, skeptical that there isn't a valid reason to leave it out of their models if they have been doing that and it is significant, and so on.
I view economists are more like physicists working with spherical cows, and often happy to continue to do so. So that means we should expect lots of specific blind spots, and for them to be easy to identify, and for them to be readily acknowledged by many economists. Under this model, economists are also not particularly concerned with the practical implications of the simplifications they make. Hence they would readily acknowledge many specific limitations of their models. Another way of putting it: this is more of a blind spot for... (read more)