Category Archives: Financial Implications

Energy and the Economy–Basic Principles and Feedback Loops

Does a fish know that its nose is wet? Probably not. It swims in water, and assumes that is the only way any animal lives. We live in an economic world. Economic models that were developed years ago were created … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, Introductory Post | Tagged , , , , , | 315 Comments

Inflation, Deflation, or Discontinuity?

A question that seems to come up quite often is, “Are we going to have inflation or deflation?” People want to figure out how to invest. Because of this, they want to know whether to expect a rise in prices, … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , , , | 348 Comments

Energy Products: Return on Investment is Already Too Low

My major point when I gave my talk at the Fifth Biophysical Economics Conference at the University of Vermont was that our economy’s overall energy return on investment is already too low to maintain the economic system we are accustomed … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 242 Comments

High Oil Prices are Starting to Affect China and India

Update: Not long after I wrote this post, the EIA revised the oil consumption amounts by country that they had published a few days earlier. The numbers changed substantially for quite a few of the countries outside the US and Europe. … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , | 259 Comments

What Would it Take to Get to a Steady State Economy?

Humans live in equilibrium with other species in a finite world. In such a world, there is never really a Steady State. Instead, there is a constant ebb and flow.  For a while, one species may be dominant in an … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 441 Comments