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The book Economy in Context is a collective monograph of fourteen authors who presented the results of their research and their opinions in seven chapters focused on various aspects of economic development and its social and environmental context. The publishing of this book is a follow‑ up process from the conference Our Common Present: Context of Economic Growth, which was organised in April 2014 at the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic.1 After the conference, the presenters, as well as other relevant scholars from the Czech Republic, were asked to contribute with a chapter for this publication. The call was relatively broad but with a clear goal: to address the problem of economic growth and to focus on the relationship between the economy, society and environment. The chapters selected for this book are diverse in various aspects. Both case studies and theoretical considerations are included. Authors of the chapters have different academic background, be it economics, sociology, culturology, philosophy, geography and environmental studies. More specifically, about economics, the authors (and their chapters) represent different fields of economics, including neoclassical economics, environmental economics and ecological economics. The problems presented in the book express themselves at many levels: individual, regional, national, EU and global. The order of the chapters tries to follow the links between them. The book starts with two Czech case studies of eutrophication and the labour market, and follows with a case study of Green Economy principles application in the EU. Subsequently, there is a more theoretical chapter focused on degrowth, followed by two chapters dealing with the problem of fair trade. The first focuses on fair trade and its relation to the agricultural cooperatives, the latter is a case study of the perception of fair trade by the students from South Bohemia. The last chapter is philosophical text discussing the new paradigm of economy and ethics. Short description of the chapter will give more insight to the readers. Water Eutrophication in the Orlík Catchment: Economically Effective Situation or Problem to Be Solved? is the chapter authored by Ondřej Vojáček (Czech Technical University in Prague) and Jan Macháč (University of Economics in Prague). It presents the case study of the Orlík Reservoir in the Czech Republic, which is an interesting and demonstrative example of the catchment that faces high phosphorus contamination and therefore strong cyanobacteria occurrence, especially during the summer seasons. The chapter presents the sources of contamination and lists possible mitigation measures. Then it focuses on the systematic cost‑ effectiveness and cost‑ benefit analysis and discusses the relevance of the methodology and also the significant methodological issues and possible difficulties when doing similar analyses. Considering the type, size and the location of the reservoir, the focus in the cost‑ benefit analysis was paid to the recreational benefits for residents and tourists. The chapter raises fundamental question about whether the water quality in Orlík catchment should be improved in the situation of exceeding cost over potential benefits and discusses the issue in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive and the principle of proportionality. Ivana Faltová Leitmanová and Renata Klufová (University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice) focus on the selected aspects of labour in the text titled Labour and its Research in the Wider Context and Detailed Focus on the Analysis of the Regional Labour Market. This chapter aims to indicate a holistic approach to work and employment research. The roles of an individual within the context of work and employment influencing him/her are further projected into relationships among individuals as well as among individuals and subsystems, partial systems and the |
