Overview
- Reconsiders economics from the perspective of natural laws
- Shows how energy and its conversion into physical work accounts for most of the growth that mainstream economics attributes to technological progress and related concepts
- Describes energy needs and options for the future
- Explores consequences for economic growth and environmental sustainability
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: The Frontiers Collection (FRONTCOLL)
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
From the reviews:
“The second law of economics by Reiner Kümmel is divided into five chapters. Lots of mathematical expressions, derivations, and interpretations are given which are useful for scientists in this area. This is an interesting book written by a physicist with an interdisciplinary approach suited to the scientific minded as well as non-specialist audience. The author nicely incorporates energy, entropy, and technological concepts into the models of economic development.” (P. N. Rathie, Mathematical Reviews, December, 2013)
“It is no easy task to write a book that is targeted at a broad audience and merges essential concepts of thermodynamics, statistical physics, and economics. However, theoretical physicist Reiner Kümmel succeeds in doing just that with The Second Law of Economics: Energy, Entropy, and the Origins of Wealth. The book discusses the impact of two fundamental laws of nature—energy conservation and entropy production—on the creation and growth of wealth....[The author] argues in a clear and simple way that energy conversion is an essential force in wealth creation and a force to be reckoned with in the crafting of economic policy….
“Overall, The Second Law of Economics is accessible and quite enjoyable, in part because of the subtle ironic tone Kümmel uses in some places. He points out that, for an interdisciplinary field like economic thermodynamics, even PhD scientists can make naive observations….Besides physicists and economists, researchers and policymakers concerned with resource conservation and how a society should be economically organized in the future can benefit from The Second Law of Economics. After all, understanding that law now can help us guarantee the prosperity of future generations.”
--Physics Today, December 2011
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Second Law of Economics
Book Subtitle: Energy, Entropy, and the Origins of Wealth
Authors: Reiner Kümmel
Series Title: The Frontiers Collection
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9365-6
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-9364-9Published: 28 June 2011
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4614-2919-7Published: 01 August 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4419-9365-6Published: 24 June 2011
Series ISSN: 1612-3018
Series E-ISSN: 2197-6619
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 296
Number of Illustrations: 27 b/w illustrations, 24 illustrations in colour
Topics: Data-driven Science, Modeling and Theory Building, Energy Policy, Economics and Management, Energy Policy, Economics and Management, Sustainable Development, Environmental Economics, Thermodynamics