ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Econ.
Sec. Ecological Economics
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frevc.2025.1644706
Institutional Change in Realizing the Value of Ecological Products: Dynamic Evolution and Local Practice Based on Concept Movement Theory
Provisionally accepted
- 1Information and Communication Company of State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company, Lanzhou, China
- 2Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
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The mechanism for realizing the value of ecological products is a core issue connecting the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and China’s ecological civilization construction. Based on the concept movement theory, this paper systematically deconstructs the dynamic evolutionary path of ecological products transforming from “natural gifts” to “factors of production,” revealing the interactive mechanism of its five stages: “stipulation-unfolding-transformation-perfection- realization.” Research shows that there is a methodological gap between the internationally accepted The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) framework and the domestic Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) accounting: the former relies on marginal utility pricing based on natural capital accounting, while the latter, through the ecological transformation of the labor theory of value, constructs a three-stage transformation model of “natural resources-ecological assets-ecological capital.” Through policy text and case analysis, it is found that the relativity of concept movement is reflected in the dynamic adjustment of policy tools, while technological tool innovation significantly reduces transaction costs by reconstructing property rights boundaries. The study proposes that the practice of institutional change in realizing the value of ecological products in China centers on “institutionally embedded innovation.” Through the localization of the natural capital paradigm via the labor theory of value, a dual-drive theoretical framework of “global consensus-local innovation” is formed, providing a practical path for developing countries to overcome the dilemma of “difficulty in measurement, transaction, and monetization.”
Keywords: Realization of ecological product value, concept movement theory, GEP accounting, Labor theory of value, three-stage transformation model, Institutional evolution
Received: 20 Jun 2025; Accepted: 12 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Zhang, Guo, Li and Zhong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fanglei Zhong, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China
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