Critical reviewInstitutional individualism and the pricing metric: Epistemological arguments against neoliberal policies

This paper aims to support arguments that Parr and Knox-Hayes developed in two recent articles published in Geoforum against neoliberal market-oriented policies in the environmental realm. We advocate for distinguishing between epistemological, ethical and political arguments in order to tackle the political economy, which the neoliberal pricing metric relies on. We suggest that North's institutional individualism and Sen's capabilities approach offer consistent and relevant theoretical frameworks for overcoming the failures of mainstream economics.