Energy, aesthetics and knowledge in complex economic systems

John Foster ()

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2011, vol. 80, issue 1, 88-100

Abstract: It is argued that the fact that economic systems are dissipative structures must be taken fully into account in economics if we are to understand the nature of the economic–ecological interface and how to deal with emergent environmental problems, such as global warming. Such problems are a product of economic growth, which is widely accepted to be the outcome of the acquisition and application of knowledge. Drawing upon disparate literatures within and outside economics, it is argued that economic growth should be more properly viewed as the outcome of a co-evolutionary process that involves the autocatalytic interaction of new knowledge and access of increasing amounts of free energy to do increasingly specialized forms of work. Specifically, the relevance of the ‘energy hypothesis,’ associated with Erwin Schrödinger and, more recently, revived by Eric Schneider and his collaborators, is assessed. This hypothesis states that all dissipative structures have, as their primary objective, the reduction of accessible free energy gradients. It is concluded that such a hypothesis cannot be rejected in the context of economic behaviour and that this opens up an important research agenda for economists.

Keywords: Dissipative structure; Energy; Entropy; Knowledge; Aesthetics; Complex system; Evolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 D80 O10 O43 O44 P48 Q32 Q43 Q57 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Working Paper: Energy, Aesthetics and Knowledge in Complex Economic Systems (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:80:y:2011:i:1:p:88-100

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.02.013

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