Efficiency in Resource Use: A Historical Perspective, Monografías, Ensayos de Historia Económica

¡Descarga Efficiency in Resource Use: A Historical Perspective y más Monografías, Ensayos en PDF de Historia Económica solo en Docsity! INTRODUCCTION EFFICIENCY IN THE USE OF RESOURCES Economic history is concerned with how mankind has used resources to create wealth. Nature provides resources and man transforms these resources into goods and services to meet human needs. Natural resources such as coal, oil and iron ore are non-renewable. Other resources are made by mankind. Capital (Factory buildings, machinery, tools….). Labour is a resource whose supply relies on how well mankind uses the other resources. The skills of labour (human capital) were based on learning by doing, and it's only since the nineteenth century that formal education has played an important role. Efficiency is determined by the technology of production and by the institutions that give access to the use of resources. Openness economies tends to increase efficiency of the use of resources. This economies can increase risk because are more exposed to shocks but it is possible alleviate this effects because is linked to the evolution of specific institutions such as the welfare state. Government sets the rules of the game, and tries to uphold law and order. But since governments have a monopoly of force, good and accountable government is far from the rule. Corruption and bad government is a major reason why economies fail. Although some natural resources may have been depleted over time, such as oil and minerals. The general technological trend in history has been that the amount of resources you need to produce a given amount of output has declined. Late nineteenth century economists all agreed that coal deposits would be exhausted in the near future , which would put an end to prosperity. It did not happen because another non-renewable resource (oil) and renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity, replaced coal as a major source of energy. However, the factors that generate efficiency, that is technology and institutions, are non-rival. Your use of common knowledge to construct a new efficient tool does not preclude others from using the same knowledge. It is true that some knowledge is not immediately and freely accessible to all because of patent protection. Such protection is an institutional mechanism to stimulate research spending, but patents expire, after which private knowledge becomes common knowledge. Climate is seen as a factor which determines the degree of efficiency with which resources can be used. The Little Ice Age, in the early modern period (1450-1650) is responsible for a decline in output produced by given resources and technology. As a contrast, the contemporary discussion focuses on the potential increasing costs of production from global warming, although the impact may differ significantly among regions and sectors in the world. The changes that economic historians focus on are how human capital, technologies and institutions develop over time to facilitate the access to an efficient use of resources that permit income and wealth to grow.