Economics and Thermodynamics - New Perspectives on Economic Analysis (Paperback, Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 1994)

Over the past two decades we have witnessed something of a revolution in the natural sciences as thermodynamic thinking evolved from an equilibrium, or 'classical', perspective, to a nonequilibrium, or 'self organisational' one. In this transition, thermodynamics has been applied in new ways and in new fields of inquiry. Chemical and biological (evolutionary) processes have been analysed, increasingly, in non equilibrium thermodynamical terms. Economics has, since the late 19th century, relied heavily upon metaphors and analogies derived from the natural sciences - mechanical analogies cast in terms of traditional Newtonian physics and expressed in terms of Cartesian logic have been especially popular. Thermodynamics, on the other hand, has been less popular, despite its early application in economics by Stanley Jevons, the father of modern notions of utility maximisation in neoclassical economics, and despite its promotion in economic contexts by Paul Samuelson, the author of the definitive treatise upon which post war neoclassical economic theory was based, namely, his Foundations of Economic Analysis. The general neglect of thermodynamic thinking in economics was brought to our attention by Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen in the late 1960s, by which time economic theory, evidenced in, for example, the Arrow Debreu general eqUilibrium system, had become so sophisticated that it could not be penetrated by thermodynamical ideas. To Georgescu Roegen, this presented something of a crisis in economics because neglect of thermodynamics led, in his view, to blindness amongst economists to an economy/environment problem in the global economy."

General

Imprint:	Springer
Country of origin:	Netherlands
Series:	Recent Economic Thought, 38
Release date:	December 2010
First published:	1994
Editors:	Peter Burley • John Foster
Dimensions:	229 x 152 x 14mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	258
Edition:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 1994
ISBN-13:	978-90-481-5796-9
Categories:	Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Economic theory & philosophy Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history Books > Science & Mathematics > Chemistry > Physical chemistry > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Economic history Promotions
LSN:	90-481-5796-X
Barcode:	9789048157969

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!