Economic Growth: How It Works; How it Fails; Why Wealth Disparity Occurs
Economists have put together models of how an economy works, but these models were developed years ago, when the world economy was far from limits.
energy consumption
Oops! Low oil prices are related to a debt bubble
Why is the price of oil so low now? In fact, why are all commodity prices so low?
How Economic Growth Fails
Our economy is like a pump that works increasingly slowly over time, as diminishing returns and other adverse influences affect its operation. Eventually, it is likely to stop.
Why We Have an Oversupply of Almost Everything (Oil, labor, capital, etc.)
Glut of Capital and Labor Challenge Policy Makers: Global oversupply extends beyond commodities, elevating deflation risk. To me, this is a very serious issue, quite likely signaling that we are reaching what has been called Limits to Growth…
On Public Health and Energy
Among the many radical changes that have transformed society since the birth of industrialism, perhaps none have had as great an impact as the revolution in health.
The Energetic Basis of Wealth
Last year I did an analysis to try to understand whether it’s possible to feed the world sustainably. Today I’d like to try to understand what happens to countries as they must rely upon the sun for energy (and, indirectly, wealth).
Living without a fridge
I’ve been living without a fridge for the last three months – the winter months of Melbourne, Australia. Before you send me to the asylum, however, let me tell you about this experiment…
Making change happen – June 6
•Alex Laskey: How behavioral science can lower your energy bill •The Death and Life of Chicago •’The Power of Just Doing Stuff •’Where will all the traffic go?
Workfare, energy and equity
Aaron Peters and Tony Curzon Price, in their important exchange about workfare, both seem to accept a basically techno-utopian view of the future of hyper-automation. But this view ignores two crucial factors which make the fundamental picture much less rosy: the environmental constraint and global-scale immiseration on a global scale. Ivan Illich’s ‘Energy & Equity’ (1973) is still the right place to start to understand the nexus involved.