Nature

by Vermeij, Geerat J.

• ISBN13: 9780691127934
• ISBN10: 069112793X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-08-21
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

From humans to hermit crabs to deep water plankton, all living things compete for locally limiting resources. This universal truth unites three bodies of thought--economics, evolution, and history--that have developed largely in mutual isolation. Here, Geerat Vermeij undertakes a groundbreaking and provocative exploration of the facts and theories of biology, economics, and geology to show how processes common to all economic systems--competition, cooperation, adaptation, and feedback--govern evolution as surely as they do the human economy, and how historical patterns in both human and nonhuman evolution follow from this principle. Using a wealth of examples of evolutionary innovations, Vermeij argues that evolution and economics are one. Powerful consumers and producers exercise disproportionate controls on the characteristics, activities, and distribution of all life forms. Competition-driven demand by consumers, when coupled with supply-side conditions permitting economic growth, leads to adaptation and escalation among organisms. Although disruptions in production halt or reverse these processes temporarily, they amplify escalation in the long run to produce trends in all economic systems toward greater power, higher production rates, and a wider reach for economic systems and their strongest members. Despite our unprecedented power to shape our surroundings, we humans are subject to all the economic principles and historical trends that emerged at life's origin more than 3 billion years ago. Engagingly written, brilliantly argued, and sweeping in scope,Nature: An Economic Historyshows that the human institutions most likely to preserve opportunity and adaptability are, after all, built like successful living things.

Author Biography

Geerat J. Vermeij is Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
CHAPTER ONE Economy and Evolution: A Road Map	1	(12)
CHAPTER TWO The Evolving Economy	13	(25)
CHAPTER THREE Human and Nonhuman Economies Compared	38	(21)
CHAPTER FOUR The Economics of Everyday: Consumption and the Role of Enemies in Nature	59	(33)
CHAPTER FIVE The Economics of Everyday: Production and the Role of Resources	92	(29)
CHAPTER SIX The Ingredients of Power and Opportunity: Technology and Organization	121	(24)
CHAPTER SEVEN The Ingredients of Power and Opportunity: The Environment	145	(24)
CHAPTER EIGHT The Geography of Power and Innovation	169	(35)
CHAPTER NINE Breaking Down and Building Up: The Role of Disturbance	204	(42)
CHAPTER TEN Patterns in History: Toward Greater Reach and Power	246	(46)
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Future of Growth and Power	292	(25)
Appendix 1: Abbreviations	317	(2)
Appendix 2: The Geological Time Scale	319	(2)
Notes	321	(50)
Literature Cited	371	(60)
Index	431