? = username $REMOTE_ASSR = IP address Mon, 24 Aug 2020 08:07:51 = Date & Time Environmental Values 29 (4), August 2020: 417–442 Submitted 10 March 2018; accepted 19 October 2019; fast-track 19 December 2019 © 2019 The White Horse Press. doi: 10.3197/096327119X15747870303881 The Spiralling Economy: Connecting Marxian Theory with Ecological Economics CRELIS RAMMELT Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies University of Amsterdam Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Email: c.f.rammelt@uva.nl  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3766-2599 ABSTRACT The capitalist mode of production and consumption is caught in a double bind: its expansion destabilises natural systems and fails to curb social inequities, while slowdown destabilises the inner workings of the economic system it- self. To better understand what is happening in this phase of instability, this article proposes a System Dynamics representation that combines elements of Georgescu-Roegen’s Ecological Economics with Marxian theory. Specifcally, it draws from a diagram recently developed by David Harvey to communicate Marx’s political economy in its totality; Harvey’s diagram is then adapted to incorporate the fow-fund model developed by Georgescu-Roegen. The contri- bution made by this adaptation is twofold: frst, it allows us to emphasise key connections and discrepancies between the two traditions; second, it extends System Dynamics into (eco-)Marxian analysis, which serves to visualise the fundamental causes and consequences of a spiralling, ever-expanding capital- ist economy. KEYWORDS Biophysical economics, ecological economics, system dynamics, Marxian theory, Georgescu-Roegen INTRODUCTION Capitalist economic growth lies at the heart of a multidimensional crisis. While growth has been the norm for several decades, not everyone has received a fair share; on the contrary, already substantial income and wealth gaps have not only been upheld but continue to widen (Alvaredo et al. 2017). Even if this