Simple model of the global economy, the global carbon cycle, and planetary energy balance.

Ocean/atmosphere/biosphere model tuned for interactive economics-based simulations from Y2k on.

Simple model of the global economy, the global carbon cycle, and planetary energy balance.

Wealth can be seen as the factories, infrastructure, goods and services the population of a nation dispose of. According to Tim Garrett,  a scientist who looks at the economy from the perspective of physics, it is existing wealth that generates economic activity and growth. This growth demands the use of energy as no activity can take place without its use. He also points out that the use of this energy unavoidably  leads to concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere.  All this, Tim Garrett says,  follows from the second law of thermodynamics.  If wealth decreases then so does economic activity and growth. The CLD tries to illustrate how wealth, ironically, now generates the conditions and feedback loops  that  may cause it to decline. The consequences are  inevitably economic  stagnation (or secular recession?). 

You can read about the connection Tim Garrett makes between 'Wealth, Economic Growth, Energy and CO2  Emissions' simply by Googling 'Tim Garrett and Economy'.

ECONOMIC GROWTH feeds on itself, provided the growth engine is fed with materials and finance. In this highly simplified representation  some of the factors that influence economic growth are show in the incircled green fields. Governments can influence economic growth positively via investments  and payouts. The most obvious tool which governments can use to slow an overheated economy is taxation.

Like Model 6 this model shows the operation of a simple economy. It demonstrates the effect of changes in the fractional rate of consumption (or the converse the fractional rate of saving.)

In summary, government "spending" tends to slow growth of production and consumption.

This model shows the structure and operation of a simple economy. It can represent economic systems at different levels of abstraction (e.g. a single good, a group of goods, multiple groups, & an "economy.")

This model has one significant difference from Model 4. The fractional consumption rate table serves the purpose of demonstrating the effects of changes in the fractional consumption rate (or the converse the fractional rate of saving) from 100% to less-than 100% to more-than 100%.

It demonstrates dramatically the effects of significant changes in consumption rates.

Economic capital growth model, Figure 27 from Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows

A clone of the Goodwin cycle IM-2010 with debt and taxes added, modified from Steve Keen's illustration of Hyman Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis "stability begets instability". This can be extended by adding the Ponzi effect of borrowing for speculative investment: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/4538470.

This model requires development and testing. Please contact the author if you are able to help.

Ocean/atmosphere/biosphere model tuned for interactive economics-based simulations from Y2k on.

This model also shows the operation of a simple economy. It differs from Model 1 primarily in the representation of all goods in the economy by units of measure of a higher level of abstraction. Thus, the same model can represent economies at different levels.

The simulation demonstrates how differing rates of consumption affect Savings.

Challenge p.212 Business Dynamics, Sterman

Economic growth cannot go on forever, although politicians and most economist seem to think so. The activity involved in economic growth necessarily  generates entropy (disorder and environmental degradation). Entorpy in turn generates powerful negative feedback loops which will, as a response from nature, ensure that economic activity will eventually grind to a complete halt.  In these circumstances organised society cannot persist and will collapse. The negative feedback loops shown in this graph have already started to operate. The longer economic growth continues unabated, the more powerful these negative feedback loops will become. How long can economic growth continue before it is overwhelmed? It may not be very far in the future.

Simple tragedy ​of the commons behavior model.

The World3 model is a detailed simulation of human population growth from 1900 into the future. It includes many environmental and demographic factors.

THIS MODEL BY GUY LAKEMAN, FROM METRICS OBTAINED USING A MORE COMPREHENSIVE VENSIM SOFTWARE MODEL, SHOWS CURRENT CONDITIONS CREATED BY THE LATEST WEATHER EXTREMES AND LOSS OF ARABLE LAND BY THE  ALBEDO EFECT MELTING THE POLAR CAPS TOGETHER WITH NORTHERN JETSTREAM SHIFT NORTHWARDS, AND A NECESSITY TO ACT BEFORE THERE IS HUGE SUFFERING.

Summary of Ch 27 of Mitchell Wray and Watts Textbook see IM-164967 for book overview See IM-169093 for added dynamic evolutionary economics history

:)

Book summary of Albert O Hirschman's 1982 book, explaining cycles of collective public action.

Modern industrial civilisation has created massive interdependencies which define it and without which it could not function. We all depend on industrial farming to produce the food we eat, we depend on gasoline being available at the gas station,  on the availability of electricity and even on the bread supplied by the local baker. Naturally, we tend to support the institutions that supply the amenities and goods to which we have become accustomed: if we get our food from the local supermarket, it is likely that we would be opposed to it’s closure. This means that the economic system that relies on continuous growth enjoys implicit societal support and that nothing short of environmental disaster or a shortage of essential raw materials will impede it’s growing indefinitely. It is not hard to work out the consequences of this situation!