Download or read book The Entropy Law and the Economic Process written by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and published by Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1971 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the ultimate analysis man struggles for low entropy, and economic scarcity is the reflection of the Entropy Law, which is the most economic in nature of all natural laws. Thermodynamics itself is presented by the author as the physics of economic value and mans economic activity as analogous (though not identical) to that of the purposive sorting of the famous Maxwellian demon. Economic activity is in fact an extension and a complement of mans biological evolution. In it, man can use exosomatic organs, i.e., organs with which he is not endowed biologically but which have evolved through a process of mutation, selection, and diffusion similar to that of biological evolution. For wherever there is evolution, the author argues, there is the work of the Entropy Law with its irrevocable qualitative Change. This point leads the author to an extensive examination of the limitations of arithmomorphic models in all sciences. He argues that no complete description of reality, no philosophical argument (not even that of the ultrapositivists), no creative thought can dispense with dialectical concepts and reasoning, which he views somewhat differently from Hegel. The tight-knit excursus ends with an analysis of some general economic issues, from that of the analytical representation of a process to that of social conflict. The author argues that, because of the very nature of exosomatic evolution, the social conflict will last under any regime as long as there is a human society. -- Publisher's description.
Download or read book Energy and Economic Myths written by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-05-18 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Energy and Economic Myths: Institutional and Analytical Economic Essays is a collection of materials that deal with various issues and concerns in economics. The title aims to clarify the misconception in economics. The first part of the text deals with the issues in natural resources and the economics of production. Next, the selection tackles the problems in institutional economics. Part III covers the epistemological and methodological concerns in economics. The title also talks about economic theories. The book will be of great interest to economists and readers who want to enhance their understanding of economic concepts.
Download or read book From Bioeconomics to Degrowth written by Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2011-03-28 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicolae Georgescu-Roegen (1906-1994) is considered today as perhaps the chief founder of the transdisciplinary field today known as Ecological Economics, but that he defined himself as Bioeconomics. In his later years Georgescu-Roegen intended to write a book of this title that would systematize what he considered to be the most significant results of his work. This project intends to resume this project, publishing a collection of the most relevant Georgescu-Roegen essays on Bioeconomics, including previously unpublished papers.
Download or read book The Origins of Ecological Economics written by Kozo Mayumi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2001-07-26 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen deserves to be called the father of ecological economics. This book connects Georgescu-Roegen's earlier work such as consumer choice theory and a critique of Leontief's dynamic model, with his later ambitious attempt to reformulate the economic process as 'bioeconomics', a theoretical alternative to neoclassical economics.
Download or read book Developments in the Design of Thermal Systems written by R. F. Boehm and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-10-28 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reference for engineers in a wide variety of industries (including power plants and chemical plants) on design of thermal systems.
Download or read book Bioeconomics and Sustainability written by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economists from around the world discuss Georgescu-Roegen's (1906-94) theories in a number of areas, but especially on environmental and energy economics. They address such topics as how long neoclassical economists can continue to ignore his contribu
Download or read book Analytical Economics written by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen and published by . This book was released on 1966-02-05 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Upcycle written by William McDonough and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the authors "Cradle to Cradle," the next step, in how society must change the way it uses resources. Drawing on the lessons gained from 10 years of using the cradle-to-cradle concept, McDonough and Braungart envision the next step in the solution to our ecological crisis.
Download or read book More Heat Than Light written by Philip Mirowski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1991-11-29 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The development of the energy concept in Western physics and its subsequent effect on the emergence of neoclassical economics are traced to reveal how economics has sought to emulate physics, especially with regard to the theory of value.
Download or read book Rethinking the World written by Peter Pogany and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2006-09 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The post-Marxian, new historical materialism described in this book breathes new life into our comprehension of the world. A 200-year perspective on modernity tells us that an all-embracing physical phenomenon holds humankind in its grip. History has recorded two distinct global systems thus far: "laissez faire/metal money," which spanned most of the 19th century and lasted until the outbreak of World War I, and "mixed economy/weak multilateralism," which began after 1945 and exists today. The period between the two systems, 1914-1945, was a chaotic transition. This evolutionary pulsation is well known to students of thermodynamics. It corresponds to the behavior of expanding and complexifying material systems. The exhaustion of oil and other natural resources is pushing the world toward a third global system that may be called "two-level economy/strong multilateralism." It will be impossible to get there without a new chaotic transition. No repeated warnings, academic advice, moral advocacy, inspired reforms, or political leadership can provide a shortcut around it. But if it took "1914-1945" to make a relatively minor adjustment in the global order, what will it take to make a major one?
Download or read book The End of Growth written by Richard Heinberg and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2012-07-09 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to drop, and governments stagger under record deficits. The End of Growth proposes a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable, natural limits. Richard Heinberg's latest landmark work goes to the heart of the ongoing financial crisis, explaining how and why it occurred, and what we must do to avert the worst potential outcomes. Written in an engaging, highly readable style, it shows why growth is being blocked by three factors: Resource depletion; Environmental impacts, and; Crushing levels of debt. These converging limits will force us to re-evaluate cherished economic theories, and to reinvent money and commerce. The End of Growth describes what policy makers, communities and families can do to build a new economy that operates within Earth's budget of energy and resources. We can thrive during the transition if we set goals that promote human and environmental well-being, rather than continuing to pursue the now-unattainable prize of ever-expanding Gross Domestic Product.
Download or read book Beyond Growth written by Herman E. Daly and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Daly is turning economics inside out by putting the earth and its diminishing natural resources at the center of the field . . . a kind of reverse Copernican revolution in economics." --Utne Reader "Considered by most to be the dean of ecological economics, Herman E. Daly elegantly topples many shibboleths in Beyond Growth. Daly challenges the conventional notion that growth is always good, and he bucks environmentalist orthodoxy, arguing that the current focus on 'sustainable development' is misguided and that the phrase itself has become meaningless." --Mother Jones "In Beyond Growth, . . . [Daly] derides the concept of 'sustainable growth' as an oxymoron. . . . Calling Mr. Daly 'an unsung hero,' Robert Goodland, the World Bank's top environmental adviser, says, 'He has been a voice crying in the wilderness.'" --G. Pascal Zachary, The Wall Street Journal "A new book by that most far-seeing and heretical of economists, Herman Daly. For 25 years now, Daly has been thinking through a new economics that accounts for the wealth of nature, the value of community and the necessity for morality." --Donella H. Meadows, Los Angeles Times "For clarity of vision and ecological wisdom Herman Daly has no peer among contemporary economists. . . . Beyond Growth is essential reading." --David W. Orr, Oberlin College "There is no more basic ethical question than the one Herman Daly is asking." --Hal Kahn, The San Jose Mercury News "Daly's critiques of economic orthodoxy . . . deliver a powerful and much-needed jolt to conventional thinking." --Karen Pennar, Business Week Named one of a hundred "visionaries who could change your life" by the Utne Reader,Herman Daly is the recipient of many awards, including a Grawemeyer Award, the Heineken Prize for environmental science, and the "Alternative Nobel Prize," the Right Livelihood Award. He is professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, and coauthor with John Cobb, Jr., of For the Common Good.
Download or read book Into the Cool written by Eric D. Schneider and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-06 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors look to the laws of thermodynamics for answers to the questions of evolution, ecology, economics, and even life's origin.
Download or read book Thermodynamics and the Destruction of Resources written by Bhavik R. Bakshi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a unique, multidisciplinary effort to apply rigorous thermodynamics fundamentals, a disciplined scholarly approach, to problems of sustainability, energy, and resource uses. Applying thermodynamic thinking to problems of sustainable behavior is a significant advantage in bringing order to ill-defined questions with a great variety of proposed solutions, some of which are more destructive than the original problem. The articles are pitched at a level accessible to advanced undergraduates and graduate students in courses on sustainability, sustainable engineering, industrial ecology, sustainable manufacturing, and green engineering. The timeliness of the topic, and the urgent need for solutions make this book attractive to general readers and specialist researchers as well. Top international figures from many disciplines, including engineers, ecologists, economists, physicists, chemists, policy experts and industrial ecologists among others make up the impressive list of contributors.
Download or read book Managing without Growth Second Edition written by Peter A. Victor and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten years after the publication of the first edition of this influential book, the evidence is even stronger that human economies are overwhelming the regenerative capacity of the planet. This book explains why long-term economic growth is infeasible, and why, especially in advanced economies, it is also undesirable. Simulations based on real data show that managing without growth is a better alternative
Download or read book The Story of Stuff written by Annie Leonard and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-03-09 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic exposé in company with An Inconvenient Truth and Silent Spring, The Story of Stuff expands on the celebrated documentary exploring the threat of overconsumption on the environment, economy, and our health. Leonard examines the “stuff” we use everyday, offering a galvanizing critique and steps for a changed planet. The Story of Stuff was received with widespread enthusiasm in hardcover, by everyone from Stephen Colbert to Tavis Smiley to George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America, as well as far-reaching print and blog coverage. Uncovering and communicating a critically important idea—that there is an intentional system behind our patterns of consumption and disposal—Annie Leonard transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet. From sneaking into factories and dumps around the world to visiting textile workers in Haiti and children mining coltan for cell phones in the Congo, Leonard, named one of Time magazine’s 100 environmental heroes of 2009, highlights each step of the materials economy and its actual effect on the earth and the people who live near sites like these. With curiosity, compassion, and humor, Leonard shares concrete steps for taking action at the individual and political level that will bring about sustainability, community health, and economic justice. Embraced by teachers, parents, churches, community centers, activists, and everyday readers, The Story of Stuff will be a long-lived classic.
Download or read book Macroeconomics in Ecological Context written by Karl Seeley and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natural resources have been a recurring subject of public interest, from the environmental awakening in and the oil crises of the later 20th century, to wide swings in oil prices and increased concern about climate change in the first decades of the 21st century. Standard macroeconomics books treat resources in passing, in an ad hoc manner, if at all. This text integrates resources into the model from the ground up, allowing a more logically consistent understanding of the economic effects of changed resource availability. But the underlying structure remains mostly traditional: a full-employment perspective on the long run and a Keynesian approach to business-cycle fluctuations. This provides an easier adaptation for instructors and gives students the tools to understand economic analysis done in a more conventional framework. The business-cycle material starts with a “natural history” of money to help students see the connections between social and physical phenomena.
