Biophysical limit and metabolic growth: New understanding of modern division of labor and sustainable economies (2023)
Current ecological crises are driven by excess consumption, which has been justified by neoclassical theories of unlimited growth. The theory of metabolic growth provides a better alternative to understand biophysical limits of economic growth and ecological constraints of the modern division of labor. It should be noted that among the founding tenets of classical economics is the Smith theorem that the division of labor is limited by market extent. Malthus, of course, whatever one thinks about the overall argument he provides, at least realized there could be competition between resources and population, and this issue subsequently influenced the works business cycle Furthermore, the nonlinear dynamics of the division of labor and the theory of metabolic growth reveal lifecycles (more exactly, wavelets) in the co-evolutionof ecology-technology-culture. This ecological systems or the trade-off between stability and complexity in which general equilibrium frameworks break down under increasing returns toscale. Clearly, given the predicaments of the modern period, coordination of nations is a more critical issue of the global division of labor than science philosophy should be brought to the fore in combination with complexity economics.
