Related Experiment Videos
Balance between absorbing and positive fixed points in resource consumption models.
Hilla Behar1, Nadav Shnerb, Yoram Louzoun
1Department of Mathematics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Summary
Improving resource efficiency with technology can paradoxically lower resource levels. Economic models show extreme parameter sensitivity, leading to potential collapse or sustainability, with stochastic simulations revealing nuanced transitions.
Area of Science:
- Economics
- Systems Dynamics
- Technological Advancement
Background:
- Economic growth models typically examine resource usage but overlook the impact of enhanced technical skills on resource efficiency.
- The interplay between capital, resource consumption, and technical skill development requires detailed investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze a model incorporating resource usage by capital and parallel technical skill production.
- To investigate the effect of improving resource usage efficacy through advanced technologies.
Main Methods:
- Development of a theoretical model integrating resource consumption, capital, and technical skill.
- Analysis using ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and spatial stochastic simulations.
Main Results:
- Improving resource usage efficacy leads to a lower steady-state resource level.
- ODE realization shows extreme parameter sensitivity and hysteresis between economic collapse and sustainability.
- Stochastic simulations reveal coexistence of collapsed and sustainable states, with smooth transitions controlled by parameters.
Conclusions:
- Economic systems exhibit complex dynamics where technological improvements in resource efficiency can have unintended consequences.
- Hysteresis and stochasticity play crucial roles in the transition between economic collapse and sustainability.
- Diffusion dynamics influence capital growth, suggesting an optimal diffusion rate for economic stability, a phenomenon potentially applicable to ecological systems.
Related Concept Videos
01:10Energy Diagrams - II
Energy diagrams are important to understand the dynamics of a system. The topology of an energy diagram helps illustrate the equilibrium points of the system.
The point in the energy diagram at which the system’s potential energy is the lowest is known as the local minima. The system tends to stay in this position indefinitely unless acted upon by a net force. The slope of the potential energy diagram at the local minima is zero, indicating that zero net force is acting on the system. The slope...
The point in the energy diagram at which the system’s potential energy is the lowest is known as the local minima. The system tends to stay in this position indefinitely unless acted upon by a net force. The slope of the potential energy diagram at the local minima is zero, indicating that zero net force is acting on the system. The slope...
00:51Energy Budgets
Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species, like annual plants, have only one reproductive episode in their lifetimes and consequently have short lifespans. Iteroparous species, by contrast, have many reproductive events during their lifetimes but have relatively few offspring. These two...
00:48Optimal Foraging
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
01:12Power and Energy
The power and energy delivered to an element are subjects of great significance in the field of electrical engineering. It is a well-known fact that a 100-watt light bulb emits more light than a 60-watt one. Therefore, power and energy calculations play a crucial role in the analysis of electrical circuits.
Power, defined as the time rate of expending or absorbing energy, is quantified in units called watts (W). The relation between power and energy is mathematically given as
Power, defined as the time rate of expending or absorbing energy, is quantified in units called watts (W). The relation between power and energy is mathematically given as
02:45Self-Discrepancy Theory
One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.
01:41Social Traps
Social traps are negative situations where people get caught in a direction or relationship that later proves to be unpleasant, with no easy way to back out of or avoid. The concept was orignally introduced by John Platt who applied psychology to Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons", where in New England herd owners could let their cattle graze in the common ground. This situation seems like a good idea, but an individual could have an advantage. If they owned more cows, the larger...