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a b s t r a c tMonetary valuation techniques are often used for evaluating the effect of a change in ecosystem services on components of human wellbeing, even though they face several drawbacks. This paper seeks to reconcile monetary valuation techniques with methods that address ecosystem-economy interactions by developing a guiding framework that limits the use of monetary valuation to various market simulations. Simulations of scenarios of environmental measures are carried out with a semi-dynamic hybrid input-output model. The guiding framework ensures that monetary valuation techniques contribute to the understanding of the impact of economic activities on changes in ecosystems services and the feedback impact of these changes on economic activities. The framework operates according to three criteria: (i) the category of ecosystem components (intermediate products, ecosystem services, benefits obtained from the ecosystem), (ii) existence of a market, intention to exchange or possibility for restoration or preservation, and (iii) direct/indirect monetary valuation techniques. The methodology is then tested with a case-study.

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The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesises that emissions first increase at low stages of development then decrease once a certain threshold has been reached. The EKC concept is usually used with per capita Gross Domestic Product as the explanatory variable. As others, we find mixed evidence, at best, of such a pattern for CO2 emissions with respect to per capita GDP. We also show that the share of manufacture in GDP and governance/institutions play a significant role in the CO2 emissions–income relationship. As GDP presents shortcomings in representing income, development in a broad perspective or human well‐being, it is then replaced by the World Bank's Adjusted Net Savings (ANS, also known as Genuine Savings). Using the ANS as an explanatory variable, we show that the EKC is generally empirically supported for CO2 emissions. We also show that human capital and natural capital are the main drivers of the downward sloping part of the EKC.

The complexity of ecological-economic systems significantly reduces our ability to investigate their behavior and propose policies aimed at various environmental and/or economic objectives. Following recent suggestions for integrating nonlinear dynamic modeling with input-output (IO) modeling, we develop a fully dynamic ecological-economic model by integrating IO with system dynamics (SD) for better capturing critical attributes of ecological-economic systems. We also develop and evaluate various scenarios using policy impact and policy sensitivity analyses. The model and analysis are applied to the degradation of fish nursery habitats by industrial harbors in the Seine estuary (Haute-Normandie region, France). The modeling technique, dynamization, and scenarios allow us to show trade-offs between economic and ecological outcomes and evaluate the impacts of restoration scenarios and water quality improvement on the fish population.