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TERRA Research is organised around 3 major themes, human capital , equity and growth and information age sustainability, the focus of our research. Our first task at INSEAD was to investigate the historical relationships between natural resource consumption, technological progress and wealth creation. The results of this research were to be used to develop a theory and models of endogenous economic growth and natural resource consumption, and a simple integrated energy-economy model with which to test ideas, and ease communication. The REXS model is the culmination of this work: a simple system dynamics model.
The objective of this website is to present the results of our research at INSEAD to a wider audience than might otherwise be reached by means of peer-reviewed journals. Each topic we research is listed below, summarised herein and links provided where appropriate to data, reports, websites and other sources of information which treat the particular topic in more depth. Alternatively the site can be navigated via the scroll-down menu, pass the pointer over "research" above.
Natural Resource Capital - An introduction to the issues and the current debate about the role of natural resources in the economy. We challenge many long-standing assumptions of neo-classical economic theory, and discuss the alternative explanations for historical economic growth that shed light on the possibilities for tomorrow and the role of information-communication technologies.
Exergy, power, work - Capital structures, labour innovates and supervises, energy powers the system and participates in wealth creation. How to measure the essential factor of production, exergy services, the 'useful work' flows from natural resource capital.
Creative-Destruction - The feasible technical efficiency of energy conversion, the process of converting a primary fuel, such as oil, gas or coal, to 'useful work' has rocketted since 1900 and the days of steam. Experience or learning curves are a robust way to model this process. Using dynamic models we can consider the creation and destruction dynamics explicitly.
Drivers of Growth - On the job learning, growing knowledge capital, technological innovation and diffusion, price reductions, increased consumption and wealth creation, growing economies of scale, more operational experience. A well understood dynamic feedback model for the economic growth process. How can this process be measured and modelled? The best justification for any model is its ability to predict.
REXS - The endogenous Resources EXergy Services-economy model is our first attempt at a dynamic representation of the exergy service driven economy. Written using Vensim modelling software, the model includes dynamics of resource consumption, learning, technological progress and economic growth. It is capable of accurately predicting a centuries historical growth and is suitable for testing scenarios of future technological progress, resource consumption and economic growth scenarios.
More to come - Keep a wether eye on this space. The site is not so much "under construction" as "subject to evolution", as of course we all are.
This site was created by Dr.Benjamin Warr,
email to: Benjamin.Warr@free.fr