Anthill Economics

Author : Nathanial Gronewold
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 205 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2021-03-05
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781633886537

Get Book

Anthill Economics by Nathanial Gronewold Pdf

Does modern economic theory violate the basic laws of nature and physics? That is the question that award-winning environmental and energy writer Nathanial Gronewold sets out to answer in Anthill Economics. Drawing from the nascent field of biophysical economics, Anthill Economics puts forth a radical new way of thinking: as 21st-century citizens, the global economy truly is our human ecosystem. It is where raw materials are sourced, goods are supplied, energy is converted, and capital is exchanged. Shouldn't it stand to reason that the same principles that affect animal ecosystems (like population density, habitation patterns, and energy return on investment) similarly apply to our –albeit more complex –human ecosystem, too? With an innovative and cross-disciplinary approach, Gronewold draws comparisons from both the animal kingdom and the atomic world. The rollercoaster-like rise and fall of the caribou population on a remote island can teach us about resource allocation. The behavior of squirrels gathering nuts is a lesson in energy return on investment. Could the high unemployment rates of anthill colonies shed light on problems with the human job market? And, will global warming change these patterns for humans and insects alike? Furthermore, if certain laws of physics can be used to explain the distribution of energy in a complex physical system, could these same laws also explain the distribution of money in a complex economic system as well? This clearly written book full of illuminating ecological analogies provides a more complete understanding of human commerce shaped by the rules of nature and laws of physics.

Author : Tadeusz Szuba
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2022-11-07
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9783031062568

Get Book

Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand as Self-control Mechanism of Social Structures by Tadeusz Szuba Pdf

This book shows how such a computational process functions, how great is its power and versatility, since it is possible to show how discoveries are made. In 1759, A. Smith realized that there must exist an additional powerful control mechanism behind Great Britain’s authority and government, explaining the extraordinary successes of Great Britain. He called this the Invisible Hand. Despite having used this term only 3 times, the idea evokes extreme scientific and political emotions to this day. If we apply a molecular model of computation, such as in in Adleman’s DNA computer, a computational model for the Invisible Hand can be built to show how it affects a society. It is a spontaneous, unconscious, distributed, noncontinuous computational process on the platform of minds of, e.g., people or ants. Knowing this mechanism, a future self-steering and self-optimization system for AI robot teams can be proposed, e.g., for construction sites and rescue operations.

Author : R. Boero,M. Morini,M. Sonnessa,P. Terna
Publisher : Springer
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2015-06-16
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781137339812

Get Book

Agent-based Models of the Economy by R. Boero,M. Morini,M. Sonnessa,P. Terna Pdf

Agent-based models are tools that provide researchers in economic fields with unprecedented analytical capabilities. This book describes the power of agent-based models along their methodology, and it provides several examples of applications spanning from public policy evaluation to financial markets.

Author : David A. McEntire
Publisher : Charles C Thomas Publisher
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780398077433

Get Book

Disciplines, Disasters, and Emergency Management by David A. McEntire Pdf

Disasters such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and Hurricane Katrina illustrate the salience and complexity of disasters. Both scholars and practitioners therefore agree that we must take a more proactive and holistic approach to emergency management, which should logically be derived from a sound understanding of the academic literature and the most pressing concerns facing professionals in the field today. Disciplines, Disasters and Emergency Management reviews what is known about catastrophic events from the standpoint of various academic areas of study. The introductory chapter by the editor, David A. McEntire, discusses the importance of and difficulties associated with multi- and interdisciplinary research on disasters and emergency management. Well-known scholars such as Drabek, Gibbs, Pine, Scanlon, Sylves, Waugh, Zakour and others then join efforts with budding students who have recently been exposed to the disaster management profession. Their review of our current level of knowledge represents 23 disciplines including geography, engineering, sociology, gerontology, public administration, international relations, law, environmental management, criminal justice, and information science, etc. The concluding chapter summarizes the contributions of various disciplines, identifies potential research opportunities, and describes ways to address future disaster problems. Besides comparing the similarities and differences among the findings from diverse fields of study, Disciplines, Disasters and Emergency Management suggests that scholars may increase their comprehension of disasters by focusing attention on the unique concept of vulnerability. Recommendations for disaster reduction also make this a useful book for professionals in emergency management. Whether you are a seasoned expert in disaster research or a novice in emergency management, this book will help you acquire cutting-edge knowledge about disasters and emergency management.

Author : Sir Patrick Geddes
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 1885
Category : Economics
ISBN : CORNELL:31924024443503

Get Book

An Analysis of the Principles of Economics by Sir Patrick Geddes Pdf

Author : Santiago Sanchez-Pages
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2021-09-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9783030801816

Get Book

The Representation of Economics in Cinema by Santiago Sanchez-Pages Pdf

Cinema articulates the economic anxieties of each generation of filmmakers and audiences. It has an influence on people’s views on various economic issues and many orders of magnitude larger than that of economics as a discipline. This book offers a sweeping study of the representation of economics in cinema across a wide range of areas and genres, from the conflicts over resources in the lawless Old West to the post-scarcity societies of science fiction futures. This book studies how films have portrayed trade unions, scarcity, money, businesses, innovators, migrant workers, working women, globalization, the stock market, and the automation of work. It aims to be useful to those who are interested in cinema with economic themes and to those who want to learn about economics through cinema.

Author : Steven Biel
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 422 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2001-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780814713457

Get Book

American Disasters by Steven Biel Pdf

Ranging widely, essayists here examine the 1900 storm that ravaged Galveston, Texas, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Titanic sinking, the Northridge earthquake, the crash of Air Florida Flight 90, the 1977 Chicago El train crash, and many other devastating events. These catastrophes elicited vastly different responses, and thus raise a number of important questions. How, for example did African Americans, feminists, and labor activists respond to the Titanic disaster? Why did the El train crash take on such symbolic meaning for the citizens of Chicago? In what ways did the San Francisco earthquake reaffirm rather than challenge a predominant faith in progress?

Author : Kevin Rozario
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2019-05-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9780226230214

Get Book

The Culture of Calamity by Kevin Rozario Pdf

Turn on the news and it looks as if we live in a time and place unusually consumed by the specter of disaster. The events of 9/11 and the promise of future attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans, and the inevitable consequences of environmental devastation all contribute to an atmosphere of imminent doom. But reading an account of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with its vivid evocation of buildings “crumbling as one might crush a biscuit,” we see that calamities—whether natural or man-made—have long had an impact on the American consciousness. Uncovering the history of Americans’ responses to disaster from their colonial past up to the present, Kevin Rozario reveals the vital role that calamity—and our abiding fascination with it—has played in the development of this nation. Beginning with the Puritan view of disaster as God’s instrument of correction, Rozario explores how catastrophic events frequently inspired positive reactions. He argues that they have shaped American life by providing an opportunity to take stock of our values and social institutions. Destruction leads naturally to rebuilding, and here we learn that disasters have been a boon to capitalism, and, paradoxically, indispensable to the construction of dominant American ideas of progress. As Rozario turns to the present, he finds that the impulse to respond creatively to disasters is mitigated by a mania for security. Terror alerts and duct tape represent the cynical politician’s attitude about 9/11, but Rozario focuses on how the attacks registered in the popular imagination—how responses to genuine calamity were mediated by the hyperreal thrills of movies; how apocalyptic literature, like the best-selling Left Behind series, recycles Puritan religious outlooks while adopting Hollywood’s style; and how the convergence of these two ways of imagining disaster points to a new postmodern culture of calamity. The Culture of Calamity will stand as the definitive diagnosis of the peculiarly American addiction to the spectacle of destruction.

Author : Amy Chavez
Publisher : Gom Publishing, LLC
Page : 434 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2005-05
Category : Japan
ISBN : 9781932966022

Get Book

Guidebook to Japan by Amy Chavez Pdf

Guidebook to Japan: What the Other Guidebooks Won't Tell You offers a candid glimpse into Japanese society rarely found in books or media. Based on over a decade of experience living in Japan, Chavez guides you through the complex culture through essays, cultural tips (called "Sword Tips"), and useful Japanese phrases (called "Sparring Japanese"), to make learning about Japan as fun as possible. Over one hundred essays from The Japan Times, matched with two hundred links to Japan-related websites (from the educational to the bizarre), this book is a vast resource of information. Chavez tells you how to get to a naked festival, how to avoid the Japanese mafia, and how to order "Spaghetti-hold the seaweed." Learn the secrets of Japan in an entire chapter called "What the Japanese don't want you to know." You'll also find a special section on teaching in Japan: what jobs are available, how to get them, and how much money you'll make. In short, all the things you need to know, told by someone who has done it herself.

Author : David Colander
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 33 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2006-07-17
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781139459051

Get Book

Post Walrasian Macroeconomics by David Colander Pdf

Macroeconomics is evolving in an almost dialectic fashion. The latest evolution is the development of a new synthesis that combines insights of new classical, new Keynesian and real business cycle traditions into a dynamic, stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model that serves as a foundation for thinking about macro policy. That new synthesis has opened up the door to a new antithesis, which is being driven by advances in computing power and analytic techniques. This new synthesis is coalescing around developments in complexity theory, automated general to specific econometric modeling, agent-based models, and non-linear and statistical dynamical models. This book thus provides the reader with an introduction to what might be called a Post Walrasian research program that is developing as the antithesis of the Walrasian DSGE synthesis.

Author : Christian Arnsperger
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2007-12-11
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781134064588

Get Book

Critical Political Economy by Christian Arnsperger Pdf

This book asks how a more liberating economics could be constructed and taught. It suggests that if economists today are serious about emancipation and empowerment, they will have to radically change their conception about what it means for a citizen to act rationally in a complex society. Arnsperger emphasises that current economics neglects an important fact: Many of us ask not only ‘what’s in it for us’, within a given socio-economic context; we also care about the context itself. The author argues that if citizens keen on exercising their critical reason actually demanded economic theories that allowed them to do so, economics would have to become a constantly emerging, open-ended knowledge process. He claims that in a truly free economy, there would be no all-out war between ‘orthodox’ and ‘heterodox’ approaches, but an intricate and unpredictable ‘post-orthodox’ pluralism that would emerge from the citizens’ own complex interactions. Offering an original and path-breaking combination of insights from Hayek, the theory of complexity, and the Frankfurt School of social criticism, Arnsperger discusses how such a free economy would generate its specific brand of economics, called ‘Critical Political Economy’

Author : Terence Hutchison
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 367 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2002-09-11
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781134869367

Get Book

The Uses and Abuses of Economics by Terence Hutchison Pdf

Terence Hutchison has made a unique contribution to debates in the history of economic thought and in economic methodology. The material collected here - much of which is appearing for the first time - includes some of the most significant and provocative parts of this contribution. Working from the principle that an idea that offends no one is not worth entertaining, the essays selected here offer a major reinterpretation of what has been called `the Smithian Revolution', and especially of Ricardo, plus a re-assessment of subjectivism and the methodology of the Austrian school.

Author : Marius Leibold,Gilbert J. B. Probst,Michael Gibbert
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2007-06-27
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9783895786105

Get Book

Strategic Management in the Knowledge Economy by Marius Leibold,Gilbert J. B. Probst,Michael Gibbert Pdf

Due to the dramatic shifts in the knowledge economy, this book provides a significant departure from traditional strategic management concepts and practice. Designed for both advanced students and business managers, it presents a unique combination of new strategic management theory, carefully selected strategic management articles by prominent scholars such as Gary Hamel, Michael Porter, Peter Senge, and real-world case studies. On top of this, the authors link powerful new benchmarks in strategic management thinking, including the concepts of Socio-Cultural Network Dynamics, Systemic Scorecards, and Customer Knowledge Management with practical business challenges and solutions of blue-chip companies with a superior performance (Lafite-Rothschild, Who's Who, Holcim, BRL Hardy, Kuoni BTI, Deutsche Bank, Unisys, Novartis).

Author : Alan Kirman
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2010-09-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781136941689

Get Book

Complex Economics by Alan Kirman Pdf

The economic crisis is also a crisis for economic theory. Most analyses of the evolution of the crisis invoke three themes, contagion, networks and trust, yet none of these play a major role in standard macroeconomic models. What is needed is a theory in which these aspects are central. The direct interaction between individuals, firms and banks does not simply produce imperfections in the functioning of the economy but is the very basis of the functioning of a modern economy. This book suggests a way of analysing the economy which takes this point of view. The economy should be considered as a complex adaptive system in which the agents constantly react to, influence and are influenced by, the other individuals in the economy. In such systems which are familiar from statistical physics and biology for example, the behaviour of the aggregate cannot be deduced from the behaviour of the average, or "representative" individual. Just as the organised activity of an ants’ nest cannot be understood from the behaviour of a "representative ant" so macroeconomic phenomena should not be assimilated to those associated with the "representative agent". This book provides examples where this can clearly be seen. The examples range from Schelling’s model of segregation, to contributions to public goods, the evolution of buyer seller relations in fish markets, to financial models based on the foraging behaviour of ants. The message of the book is that coordination rather than efficiency is the central problem in economics. How do the myriads of individual choices and decisions come to be coordinated? How does the economy or a market, "self organise" and how does this sometimes result in major upheavals, or to use the phrase from physics, "phase transitions"? The sort of system described in this book is not in equilibrium in the standard sense, it is constantly changing and moving from state to state and its very structure is always being modified. The economy is not a ship sailing on a well-defined trajectory which occasionally gets knocked off course. It is more like the slime described in the book "emergence", constantly reorganising itself so as to slide collectively in directions which are neither understood nor necessarily desired by its components.

Author : David Faulkner
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 452 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0415251540

Get Book

Strategy by David Faulkner Pdf

This is the most comprehensive collection to date on all aspects of strategy. The articles selected here discuss key themes, including:* different conceptions of strategy, such as the classical, rational models of Porter, the empirical, emergent emphasis of Mintzberg, and the competence based models of Grant and others * the relationship between strategy and other subjects including economics and organizational studies * scenario planning, networks, strategic groups and knowledge, and other key new developments * the implications of globalization and international management * key strategic decisions including diversification and mergers and acquisitionsWith a new introduction by the editor and an extensive index, this collection is an invaluable reference tool and teaching aid.