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System of Accounts for Global Entropy-Production (SAGE-P): The Accounting in the Topological Domain Space (TDS) of the Econosphere, Sociosphere, and the Ecosphere
Abstract
This chapter describes the accounts of the Econosphere, Sociosphere and Ecosphere governed by the Second Law of thermodynamics. Applied symmetries of ?production? (i.e., neg-entropy), ?consumption? (i.e., entropy) and capital accumulation (i.e., net-valued low entropy fund available for human consumption). These entropy production accounts permits holistic assessment of sustainability in the following state condition: (a) steady-state, (neg-entropy = entropy), (b) surplus-state, (neg-entropy > entropy) and (c) deficit-state (neg-entropy < entropy). Examined are the root of entropy accounting in the labour theory of values and the Ricardian (long-term) production equations of distribution of wages, profits and rent. This is contrasted to the neoclassical general equilibrium hypothesis of unlimited productivity per unit of consumption and where distributions are determined by state conditions of the supply and demand curve governed by consumer choice and/or preference functions. We introduce the equations of the entropic process described by G-R Flow-Fund Model whereby quantitative (material) production functions are transcribed into qualitative (immaterial) consumption functions, (i.e., enjoyment of Product). This powerful logic of entropy production as a limit function of Production, Consumption and Capital Accumulation, reinstates the Ricardian hypothesis of the longterm end result of Capitalism: Wages fall to subsistence, Profits fall to zero, and Rents rise to a maximum. The SAGE-P provides the accounts of entropy production essential for redirecting the trajectories of unsustainable growth, towards a sustainable economy reduced to maintaining the stock (i.e., wealth) of any well-defined Low Entropy Fund (LEF) available for human consumption, (see Fig. 6.4). The object of policy is thus redefined as the minimum socially acceptable rate of entropy production per unit of consumption. The Appendices provides a window on the formalism underpinning the accounting concepts of SAGE-P.
Ecovillages are social organizations that emerged in the 1970s from the pacifist movement of alternative communities and counterculture for ecology and human rights. These communities have a differentiated social role with high levels of social and natural capital, which have been suggested as a proposal for a conscious transition from modern capitalist society to a sustainable society, hitherto unachievable through public policy and corporate initiatives. However, most of these human settlements still remain irregular in Brazil as they are under attack from the corrosive factors of an archaic, closed and exclusive land system that orchestrates the country's political, financial and legal context. This research was developed from a bibliographic and documentary survey, in addition to incorporating fieldwork through semi-structured interviews with leaders and members of rural ecovillages in São Paulo. The results pointed out ecovillages as agents of sustainable local development in their four capitals (social, economic, politico-institutional and natural), their contributions to the 2030 Agenda and the threats that could affect their activities in Brazil.
Keywords: human settlements; Sustainable development; social capital.
We start with the general concepts included in ecological economics thinking. Ecological economists are normative in two respects. There is the scientific norm concerning some dependence relationships in the world and the law of entropy. There is a more ethical norm about the desire to align our life-styles with the dependence relationship and encourage others to share the desire for alignment.
This chapter concludes the book, not the part of the book.
This groundbreaking book focuses on neo-Austrian capital theory and its application to the modelling of long-run economy-environment interactions.
This book begins by presenting an overview of the modelling approach and offers and historical survey of capital theory and its development. The authors then provide a detailed introduction to the neo-Austrian modelling technique and extend it to include time horizons and growth models. The model is then applied to environmental issues such as green national accounts, resource rents, and climate change to show how the neo-Austrian approach gives fresh and illuminating insights. An empirical application to the history of the iron and steel industry the UK is also presented.
Capital and Time in Ecological Economics will be of interest to ecological and environmental economists, economic capital theorists, and all those following in the neo-Austrian approach to economics.
This book was originally published by Macmillan in 1936. It was voted the top Academic Book that Shaped Modern Britain by Academic Book Week (UK) in 2017, and in 2011 was placed on Time Magazine's top 100 non-fiction books written in English since 1923. Reissued with a fresh Introduction by the Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman and a new Afterword by Keynes’ biographer Robert Skidelsky, this important work is made available to a new generation.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money transformed economics and changed the face of modern macroeconomics. Keynes’ argument is based on the idea that the level of employment is not determined by the price of labour, but by the spending of money. It gave way to an entirely new approach where employment, inflation and the market economy are concerned.
Highly provocative at its time of publication, this book and Keynes’ theories continue to remain the subject of much support and praise, criticism and debate. Economists at any stage in their career will enjoy revisiting this treatise and observing the relevance of Keynes’ work in today’s contemporary climate.