Energy and Institution Size

Blair Fix

No 2016/04, Working Papers on Capital as Power from Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism

Abstract: Why do institutions grow? Despite nearly a century of scientific effort, there remains little consensus on this topic. This paper offers a new approach that focuses on energy consumption. A systematic relation exists between institution size and energy consumption per capita: as energy consumption increases, institutions become larger. I hypothesize that this relation results from the interplay between technological complexity and human biological limitations. I also show how a simple stochastic model can be used to link energy consumption with firm dynamics.

Keywords: complexity; energy; human biology; institutions; hierarchy; technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-his and nep-reg
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:capwps:201604

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