Environment and regulation of development in a mixed market economy: from outsourcing to institutional integration in a controversial universe.

Summary Environmental problems put economic development methods to the test. The examination of public policies reveals the prevalence of other representations at work than the classical scheme of resource misallocation. Based on work on self-organization, we show that the concept of environment has the structure of an "entangled hierarchy" between the meaning constructed by the socio-economic system and that which emanates from the environment as an encompassing entity. Self-reference and heteroreference are intertwined in the representation of problems, in particular in the configurations of "controversial universes", distinguished from the "stabilized universes" to which the neo-classical analytical apparatus is more adapted. A typology of internalization mechanisms highlights their diversity and introduces the figure of "contestable legitimacy". Based on cases of regional or global pollution, such as the climatic risk linked to the greenhouse effect, the first elements of a theory of the environment in a "controversial universe" are put forward. The intervention of a conflicting plurality of systems of justification of action renews the approach to the choice of policy instruments. Taking into account this legitimacy constraint, a comparison is made between taxation and tradable permit regimes to coordinate action to prevent climate risk at the international level.