Energy and Institution Size

Blair Fix

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2017, vol. 12, issue 2, 1-22

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 scale 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: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:157804

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171823

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