Nature

An Economic History

Geerat J. Vermeij

446 pages, parution le 01/10/2006

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Résumé

From humans to hermit crabs to deep water plankton, all living things compete for locally limiting resources. This universal truth unites three bodies of thought--economics, evolution, and history--that have developed largely in mutual isolation. Here, Geerat Vermeij undertakes a groundbreaking and provocative exploration of the facts and theories of biology, economics, and geology to show how processes common to all economic systems--competition, cooperation, adaptation, and feedback--govern evolution as surely as they do the human economy, and how historical patterns in both human and nonhuman evolution follow from this principle.

Using a wealth of examples of evolutionary innovations, Vermeij argues that evolution and economics are one. Powerful consumers and producers exercise disproportionate controls on the characteristics, activities, and distribution of all life forms. Competition-driven demand by consumers, when coupled with supply-side conditions permitting economic growth, leads to adaptation and escalation among organisms. Although disruptions in production halt or reverse these processes temporarily, they amplify escalation in the long run to produce trends in all economic systems toward greater power, higher production rates, and a wider reach for economic systems and their strongest members.

Despite our unprecedented power to shape our surroundings, we humans are subject to all the economic principles and historical trends that emerged at life's origin more than 3 billion years ago. Engagingly written, brilliantly argued, and sweeping in scope, Nature: An Economic History shows that the human institutions most likely to preserve opportunity and adaptability are, after all, built like successful living things.

L'auteur - Geerat J. Vermeij

Geerat J. Vermeij is Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of California, Davis. As an evolutionary biologist and paleontologist, he studies shells and the fossil and living animals responsible for building them. His books include Evolution and Escalation: An Ecological History of Life, A Natural History of Shells (both Princeton), and Privileged Hands. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992.

Sommaire

Preface
Economy and Evolution: A Road Map
The Evolving Economy
Human and Nonhuman Economies Compared
The Economics of Everyday: Consumption and the Role of Enemies in Nature
The Economics of Everyday: Production and the Role of Resources
The Ingredients of Power and Opportunity: Technology and Organization
The Ingredients of Power and Opportunity: The Environment
The Geography of Power and Innovation
Breaking Down and Building Up: The Role of Disturbance
Patterns in History: Toward Greater Reach and Power
The Future of Growth and Power
Appendix 1: Abbreviations
Appendix 2: The Geological Time Scale
Notes
Literature Cited
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Princeton University Press
Auteur(s)	Geerat J. Vermeij
Parution	01/10/2006
Nb. de pages	446
Format	15,5 x 23,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	643g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780691127934
ISBN13	978-0-691-12793-4