The Energy Blindness of Economics From Adam Smith to William Nordhaus

Event Status
Scheduled

Steve Keen
Distinguished Research Fellow, University College London

 

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Bio:

Professor Keen has been a critic of mainstream economics for over 50 years. He has specialised in developing genuinely dynamic methods for economics, especially as applied to the analysis of money and energy, two topics that mainstream economics routinely ignores. His most well-known works are Debunking Economics (2011) and The New Economics: A Manifesto (2021). He invented the Open Source system dynamics program Minsky, whose "Godley Tables" enable dynamic monetary models to be developed using double-entry bookkeeping. He is supported by crowdfunding on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen) and Substack (https://profstevekeen.substack.com/)
 

Abstract:

Economics went astray from the path towards biophysical realism in 1776, with the publication of Smith's Wealth of Nations. That has culminated in today's Neoclassical economic analysis of climate change, which is utterly delusional, and also highly influential--the fossil fuel industries may have waged the war against action on climate change, but the weapons of mass distraction they have wielded were crafted by Neoclassical economists, commencing with Nordhaus's uneducated dismissal of the Limits to Growth, and culminating in an economic orthodoxy which sees a trajectory towards 7°C of warming in 2 century's time as reducing annual economic growth by a mere 0.02%.

Note: This talk will be presented remotely via Zoom Webinar and on the Energy Institute's YouTube channel. If using Zoom, viewers must register for an account with Zoom and log in to Zoom using that registration in order to use the meeting link and participate. Faculty, students and staff of UT, please use your personal UT Zoom account. 

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Date and Time
Nov. 7, 2023, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Location
Live Stream Online (Zoom and YouTube)
Event tags
UT Energy Symposium
Students