Market: Those in economics, especially thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, cybernetics, information theory, resource use, and evolutionary economic behavior. This book presents an innovative and challenging look at evolution on several scales, from the earth and its geology and chemistry to living organisms to social and economic systems. Applying the principles of thermodynamics and the concepts of information gathering and self- organization, the author characterizes the direction of evolution in each case as an accumulation of "distinguishability" information--a type of universal...

Achieving the goals and objectives of sustainable development requires better information about the consequences of proposed actions. Partial information accounts for many failed efforts in the past. The financial implications for the proponent of the projects have often been more thoroughly analyzed than the implications for other actors. The impacts on biological diversity, or on the social fabric of local communities, have often been ignored. Decisi- makers may also focus more on the short-term consequences instead of long- term impacts, creating negative unintended consequences. It is...

In this volume, a group of distinguished international scholars provides a fresh investigation of the most fundamental issues involved in our dependence on natural resources. In Scarcity and Growth (1963) and Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered (1979), researchers considered the long-term implications of resource scarcity for economic growth and human well-being. Scarcity and Growth Revisited examines these implications with 25 years of new learning and experience. It finds that concerns about resource scarcity have changed in essential ways. In contrast with the earlier preoccupation with the...

In this volume, a group of distinguished international scholars provides a fresh investigation of the most fundamental issues involved in our dependence on natural resources. In Scarcity and Growth (1963) and Scarcity and Growth Reconsidered (1979), researchers considered the long-term implications of resource scarcity for economic growth and human well-being. Scarcity and Growth Revisited examines these implications with 25 years of new learning and experience. It finds that concerns about resource scarcity have changed in essential ways. In contrast with the earlier preoccupation with the...

What s in a name? What, in particular, is metals management all about? I suspect that my colleagues assumed that I would have a good answer, given that the endowed Sandoz Chair I occupied from 1992 until my retirement in 2000 was entitled Environment and Management, and at INSEAD I created a Center for Management of Environmental Resources (CMER). Metals are a subset of resources, et voila However, in all honesty, management, as such, was never my core competence (to use another phrase popularized by business schools). Here comes the shocking secret. We used the word management in those...

What s in a name? What, in particular, is metals management all about? I suspect that my colleagues assumed that I would have a good answer, given that the endowed Sandoz Chair I occupied from 1992 until my retirement in 2000 was entitled Environment and Management, and at INSEAD I created a Center for Management of Environmental Resources (CMER). Metals are a subset of resources, et voila However, in all honesty, management, as such, was never my core competence (to use another phrase popularized by business schools). Here comes the shocking secret. We used the word management in those...