In the natural sciences, thermoeconomics is the physics of economic value.^[1] Economic activities may be characterized and studied as mechanical processes, but at a more fundamental level they are thermodynamic processes.^[2] The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ... The first few hydrogen atom electron orbitals shown as cross-sections with color-coded probability density. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A thermodynamic process may be defined as the energetic evolution of a thermodynamic system proceeding from an initial state to a final state. ...

In thermoeconomics, thermoeconomists reason that human economic systems can be modeled as thermodynamic systems then, based on this premise, attempt to develop theoretical economic analogs of the first and second laws of thermodynamics.^[3] In addition, the thermodynamic quantity exergy, i.e. measure of the useful work energy of a system, is the most important measure of value. In thermodynamics, thermal systems exchange heat, work, and or mass with their surroundings; in this direction, relations between the energy associated with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services can be determined. Economy redirects here. ... Thermodynamics (Greek: thermos = heat and dynamic = change) is the physics of energy, heat, work, entropy and the spontaneity of processes. ... The first law of thermodynamics, a generalized expression of the law of the conservation of energy, states: // Description Essentially, the First Law of Thermodynamics declares that energy is conserved for a closed system, with heat and work being the forms of energy transfer. ... The second law of thermodynamics states that which is equivalent to this scientific statement: The Second Law is a statistical law and thus applicable only to macroscopic systems. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... In physics, heat, symbolized by Q, is defined as energy in transit. ... Look up work in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it is equivalent to. ... Look up distribution in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with consumption (economics). ... Good. ... Services are: plural of service Tertiary sector of industry IRC services Web services the name of a first-class cricket team in India This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

History

Thermoeconomics is a relatively new science, tracing its origins to the early 18th century views of the physiocrats. One of the first publications to discuss aspects of economic activity from an energy perspective was the 1865 book The Coal Question by Stanley Jevons, the father of modern notions of utility maximisation in neoclassical economics. Later, Paul Samuelson, with his Foundations of Economic Analysis, and Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, in the late 1960s, were some of the early developers to begin to connect thermodynamic theory with economic theory. The Physiocrats were a group of thinkers who believed in an economic theory which considered that the wealth of nations was derived solely from agriculture. ... William Stanley Jevons (September 1, 1835 - August 13, 1882), English economist and logician, was born in Liverpool. ... Paul Anthony Samuelson Paul A. Samuelson (born May 15, 1915, in Gary, Indiana) is an American economist known for his work in many fields of economics. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ...

Overview

Economic systems in a society always involve matter, energy, entropy, and information. Moreover, the aim of many economic activities is to achieve a certain structure. In this manner, thermoeconomics attempts to apply the theories in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, in which structure formations called dissipative structures form, and information theory, in which information entropy is a central construct, to the modeling of economic activities in which the natural flows of energy and materials function to create scarce resources.^[4] In thermodynamic terminology, human economic activity may be described as a dissipative system, which flourishes by transforming and exchanging resources, goods, and services. These processes involve complex networks of flows of energy and materials. Matter is commonly defined as the substance of which physical objects are composed. ... In thermodynamics, entropy, symbolized by S, is a state function of a thermodynamic system defined by the differential quantity , where dQ is the amount of heat absorbed in a reversible process in which the system goes from the one state to another, and T is the absolute temperature. ... Information as a concept bears a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. ... Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a branch of thermodynamics concerned with studying time-dependent thermodynamic systems, irreversible transformations and open systems. ... A dissipative system (or dissipative structure) is an open system which is operating far from thermodynamic equilibrium within an environment that exchanges energy, matter or entropy. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Entropy of a Bernoulli trial as a function of success probability, often called the binary entropy function. ...

Engineering economics

In engineering and industrial design, thermoeconomics applies to methodologies combining exergy and economics for optimizing the design and operation of thermal systems, a typical example being power generation units.^[5] In plant design, for example, energy and mass flowsheets and stream tables are generated which shows the major pieces of equipment. Using these, cost data is generated. Cost estimates are the driving force for any design study. Engineering is the application of scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems. ... Industrial design is an applied art whereby the aesthetics and usability of products may be improved. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Related views

A related term is the recently coined "physioeconomics" by economist Philip Parker, from his 2000 book Physioeconomics - the Basis for Long-Run Economic Growth, in which the physical laws and various physiologial concepts are used to explain both microeconomic and macroeconomic behaviors, especially as these might vary from country to country. According to Parker, humans are homeotherms by nature. Thus, sciences such as heat transfer and thermodynamics, in coordination with recent findings in neuroscience, such as the relation between the hypothalamus and economic function, can be used to model economic aspects such as utility and consumption, which vary per latitude. A physical law, scientific law, or a law of nature is a scientific generalization based on empirical observations of physical behavior. ... Microeconomics is the study of the economic behaviour of individual consumers, firms, and industries and the distribution of production and income among them. ... Macroeconomics is the study of the entire economy in terms of the total amount of goods and services produced, total income earned, the level of employment of productive resources, and the general behavior of prices. ... Heat transfer is the study of the energy transfer via either conduction, convection, or radiation. ... Neuroscience is a field of study that deals with the structure, function, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system, consisting of the myriad nerve pathways running throughout the body. ... In the anatomy of mammals, the hypothalamus is a region of the brain located below the thalamus, forming the major portion of the ventral region of the diencephalon and functioning to regulate certain metabolic processes and other autonomic activities. ... In economics, utility is a measure of the happiness or satisfaction gained consuming good and services. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with consumption (economics). ...

According to these views, a country's performance is gauged not by its absolute level of income or consumption, but rather by how far it is from homeostatic steady state. Countries closer to their homeostatic steady state are predicted to grow slower than those farther away, even though they might have lower levels of consumption. For alternative meanings see steady state (disambiguation). ...

Recently, there has been a push to connect neurochemistry and medicine to economics. In the 1993 Nobel Lecture by economist Robert Fogel, for example, he acknowledges a link between long-run economic growth and fundamental principles of physics and physiology, where he states: Neurochemistry is a branch of neuroscience that is heavily devoted to the study of neurochemicals. ... This article is about the field of medical practice and health care. ... Robert William Fogel (born July 1, 1926) is an American economic historian and scientist, and Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel winner in 1993 (with Douglass North). ...

Recent findings in the biomedical area call attention to what may be called the thermodynamic and physiological factors in economic growth.

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See also

In the physical sciences, atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat and energy transformations in the earth’s atmospheric system. ... Biological thermodynamics (Greek: bios = life and logikos = reason + Greek: thermos = heat and dynamics = power) is the study of energy transformation in the biological sciences. ... In physics, black hole thermodynamics is essentially the theoretical study of energy and entropy at the boundary regions of black holes. ... Thermochemistry is the application of thermodynamics to chemistry. ... ass hole ... Equilibrium Thermodynamics (Latin: aequalis = level and libra = weight or balance + Greek: thermos = heat and dynamis = power) is the systematic study of transformations of matter and energy in systems as they approach equilibrium. ... Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a branch of thermodynamics concerned with studying time-dependent thermodynamic systems, irreversible transformations and open systems. ... Phenomenological thermodynamic is a branch of thermodynamics concerned with the study and analysis of actual phenomena with avoidance of full interpretation, explanation, and evaluation of microscopic, i. ... In psychology, psychodynamics is the study of the interrelationship of various parts of the mind, personality, or psyche as they relate to mental, emotional, or motivational forces especially at the subconscious level. ... Statistical mechanics is the application of statistics, which includes mathematical tools for dealing with large populations, to the field of mechanics, which is concerned with the motion of particles or objects when subjected to a force. ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ...

References

1. ^ Georgescu-Roegen, Nicholas (1971). The Entropy Law and the Economic Process. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674257812.
2. ^ Chen, Jing (2005). The Physical Foundation of Economics - an Analytical Thermodynamic Theory. World Scientific. ISBN 9812563237.
3. ^ Burley, Peter, Foster, John (1994). Economics and Thermodynamics – New Perspectives on Economic Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0792394461.
4. ^ Sieniutycz, Stanislaw, Salamon, Peter (1990). Finite-Time Thermodynamics and Thermoeconomics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 084481668X.
5. ^ Moran, Michael, J., Shapiro, Howard, N. (2003). Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics. Wiley. ISBN 0-47127-471-2.

Further reading

• El-Sayed, Yehia, M. (2003). The Thermoeconomics of Energy Conversions. Pergamon. ISBN 0080442706.

External links

• Thermoeconomics – Beyond the Second Law – source: www.complexsystems.org
• Economy and Thermodynamics - Borisas Cimbleris: Emeritus Professor, Federal University of Minas Gerais