Energy and the Wealth of Nations: An Introduction to Biophysical Economics
AUTHOR | Klitgaard, Kent; Hall, Charles A. S. |
PUBLISHER | Springer (12/19/2018) |
PRODUCT TYPE | Paperback (Paperback) |
Includes several new chapters and comprehensive updates addressing the implications of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), access to energy and social inequality, and climate science and planetary boundaries
Integrates energy and economics by combining natural and social sciences
Uses predictive tools and measures, such as EROI, to show how the economy is embedded in a biophysical world subject to scientific rules and constraints
Provides a fresh approach to economics for those wondering "What's next?" after the Great Recession and continued volatility in energy prices
Offers economic analysis from the real-world perspective of peak oil, high energy prices, the role of alternative energy sources, and potential environmental impacts of energy use such as climate change
For the past 150 years, economics has been treated as a social science in which economies are modeled as a circular flow of income between producers and consumers. In this "perpetual motion" of interactions between firms that produce and households that consume, little or no accounting is given of the flow of energy and materials from the environment and back again. In the standard economic model, energy and matter are completely recycled in these transactions, and economic activity is seemingly exempt from the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As we enter the second half of the age of oil, when energy supplies and the environmental impacts of energy production and consumption are likely to constrain economic growth, this exemption should be considered illusory at best. This book is an essential read for all scientists and economists who have recognized the urgent need for a more scientific, empirical, and unified approach to economics in an energy-constrained world, and serves as an ideal teaching text for the growing number of courses, such as the authors' own, on the role of energy in society.
- Includes several new chapters and comprehensive updates addressing the implications of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), access to energy and social inequality, as well as climate science and planetary boundaries
- Integrates energy and economics by combining natural and social sciences
- Uses predictive tools and measures, such as EROI, to show how the economy is embedded in a biophysical world subject to scientific rules and constraints
- Provides a fresh approach to economics for those wondering "What's next?" after the Great Recession and continued volatility in energy prices
- Offers economic analysis from the real-world perspective of peak oil, high energy prices, the role of alternative energy sources, and potential environmental impacts of energy use such as climate change
Includes several new chapters and comprehensive updates addressing the implications of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), access to energy and social inequality, and climate science and planetary boundaries
Integrates energy and economics by combining natural and social sciences
Uses predictive tools and measures, such as EROI, to show how the economy is embedded in a biophysical world subject to scientific rules and constraints
Provides a fresh approach to economics for those wondering "What's next?" after the Great Recession and continued volatility in energy prices
Offers economic analysis from the real-world perspective of peak oil, high energy prices, the role of alternative energy sources, and potential environmental impacts of energy use such as climate change