Steady-state economics is a branch of economic thinking which applies the perspectives of steady-state systems developed in thermodynamic physics to economic analysis. This direction in economics is largely associated with the work of Herman Daly, who has written the classic work in the field, Steady-State Economics (1977). While its impact has been relatively minor within the discipline of economics itself, the concept of steady-state economics has gathered a significant audience among life scientists and within the larger environmental movement.

Steady-state economics is closely related to sustainable development, and many consider it as but one component of the larger issue of sustainability. The constraints imposed by the laws of physics determine, in Daly's terminology, the "ultimate means" or the "ultimate supply limit" beyond which no measure of human development can make better use of resources and energy. One of the fundamental criticisms of traditional economic thinking made by...