The First and Second Industrial Revolutions were about energy:
steam power revolutionized 19th-century Great Britain and electric
power revolutionized 20th-century America. Yet political economy,
the science of wealth born of the First Industrial Revolution, is
devoid of energy, focusing instead on machinery or capital.
According to basic mechanics, tools "per se" are not productive, as
they are not source of energy. This book uses basic mechanics and
thermodynamics to reexamine the rise of political economy as the
science of wealth in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is argued that
the failure of generations of political economists to formally
incorporate energy into their models of production and distribution
has led to the unfortunate state in which economics currently finds
itself. With the inclusion of energy, important insights result.
For instance, the Solow Residual in both 19th-century Great Britain
and 20th-century America disappears.
Unlike previous critiques of political economy, the analysis is
constructive in nature, using past shortcomings and oversights as a
springboard to a more consistent model of economic activity,
especially production. The book is the first of its kind to use
basic physics and thermodynamics as a guide to the First and Second
Industrial Revolutions, and more importantly, to show how political
economists from Smith to Fisher have attempted to understand these
two energy-based industrial revolutions.
General
Imprint: |
Iuniverse, Inc.
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
February 2008 |
First published: |
February 2008 |
Authors: |
Bernard C. Beaudreau
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 13mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
220 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-595-48117-0 |
Categories: |
Books >
Science & Mathematics >
Physics >
General
|
LSN: |
0-595-48117-5 |
Barcode: |
9780595481170 |
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