The collapse of complex human societies remains poorly understood and
current theories fail to model important features of historical examples of collapse.
Relationships among resources, capital, waste, and production form the basis for an
ecological model of collapse in which production fails to meet maintenance
requirements for existing capital. Societies facing such crises after having depleted
essential resources risk catabolic collapse, a self-reinforcing cycle of contraction
converting most capital to waste. This model allows key features of historical
examples of collapse to be accounted for, and suggests parallels between successional
processes in nonhuman ecosystems and collapse phenomena in human societies.
The collapse of complex human societies remains poorly understood and
current theories fail to model important features of historical examples of collapse.
Relationships among resources, capital, waste, and production form the basis for an
ecological model of collapse in which production fails to meet maintenance
requirements for existing capital. Societies facing such crises after having depleted
essential resources risk catabolic collapse, a self-reinforcing cycle of contraction
converting most capital to waste. This model allows key features of historical
examples of collapse to be accounted for, and suggests parallels between successional
processes in nonhuman ecosystems and collapse phenomena in human societies.
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Global emissions scenarios play a critical role in the assessment of strategies to mitigate climate change. The current scenarios, however, are criticized because they feature strategies with pronounced overshoot of the global temperature goal, requiring a long-term repair phase to draw temperatures down again through net-negative emissions. Some impacts might not be reversible. Hence, we explore a new set of net-zero CO2 emissions scenarios with limited overshoot. We show that upfront investments are needed in the near term for limiting temperature overshoot but that these would bring long-term economic gains. Our study further identifies alternative configurations of net-zero CO2 emissions systems and the roles of different sectors and regions for balancing sources and sinks. Even without net-negative emissions, CO2 removal is important for accelerating near-term reductions and for providing an anthropogenic sink that can offset the residual emissions in sectors that are hard to abate. Current emissions scenarios include pathways that overshoot the temperature goals set out in the Paris Agreement and rely on future net negative emissions. Limiting overshoot would require near-term investment but would result in longer-term economic benefit.
Five female economists are revolutionizing their field by questioning the meaning of everything from ‘value,’ and ‘debt,’ to ‘growth’ and ‘GDP.’ They are united in one thing: their amazement at the way economics has been defined and debated to date. And they're suggesting some alternatives.
Every minute, South Korea's household debt rises by US$90 thousand dollars. Every 12 minutes, a Korean is declared bankrupt. Ordinary households now owe some...
Women, Business and the Law (WBL) is a World Bank Group project that collects data on gender inequality in the law. The dataset diagnoses legal barriers limiting women's full economic participation and encourages policymakers to reform discriminatory laws.
Lots of tech projects these days, especially crypto-networks, aspire to decentralization. Or their evangelists say they do, because they feel they need to. Decentralization is the new disruption—the…
What is the centralization that decentralized Web advocates are reacting against? Clearly, it is the domination of the Web by the FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) and a few other large companies such as the cable oligopoly. These companies came to dominate the Web for economic not technological reasons.