IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revaec/v35y2022i3d10.1007_s11138-022-00571-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The economic logic behind the ultimate resource

Author

Listed:
  • Peter J. Boettke

    (George Mason University)

  • Christopher J. Coyne

    (George Mason University)

Abstract

Using economic reasoning, Julian Simon offered crucial insights into a range of pressing issues including the environment, immigration, and economic development. The main lesson from Simon’s scholarship is that the ultimate resource does not reside in the ground (natural resources), or even in the accumulated wisdom and knowledge in books and scientific journals (human capital), but in the imagination of people. Through their purposeful actions, people turn their thoughts and aspiration into a new reality that enables immense improvements in the human condition. In making this argument, Simon articulated the core ideas of Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, and Israel Kirzner regarding the discovery and use of knowledge in society, and the role of entrepreneurship as the prime mover of progress. This paper makes this intellectual connection clear.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter J. Boettke & Christopher J. Coyne, 2022. "The economic logic behind the ultimate resource," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 303-314, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:35:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11138-022-00571-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-022-00571-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11138-022-00571-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11138-022-00571-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Boettke, Peter J. & Coyne, Christopher J., 2009. "Context Matters: Institutions and Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(3), pages 135-209, March.
    2. Kenneth Arrow & Partha Dasgupta & Lawrence Goulder & Gretchen Daily & Paul Ehrlich & Geoffrey Heal & Simon Levin & Karl-Göran Mäler & Stephen Schneider & David Starrett & Brian Walker, 2004. "Are We Consuming Too Much?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(3), pages 147-172, Summer.
    3. Peter Boettke, 2018. "Economics and Public Administration," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 938-959, April.
    4. Romer, Paul M., 2018. "On the Possibility of Progress," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2018-4, Nobel Prize Committee.
    5. Pierre Desrochers & Vincent Geloso & Joanna Szurmak, 2021. "Care to Wager Again? An Appraisal of Paul Ehrlich's Counterbet Offer to Julian Simon, Part 2: Critical Analysis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(2), pages 808-829, March.
    6. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    7. Pierre Desrochers & Vincent Geloso & Joanna Szurmak, 2021. "Care to Wager Again? An Appraisal of Paul Ehrlich's Counterbet Offer to Julian Simon, Part 1: Outcomes," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(2), pages 786-807, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peter Jacobsen & Louis Rouanet, 2022. "The ultimate resource after 40: A special issue against the grain," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 275-282, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Jacobsen & Louis Rouanet, 2022. "Economists versus engineers: Two approaches to environmental problems," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 359-381, September.
    2. Vincent Geloso, 2022. "Statogenic climate change? Julian Simon and Institutions," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 343-358, September.
    3. Charles M. A. Clark, 2021. "Editor’s Introduction: Economics and the Option for the Poor," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(4), pages 1051-1059, September.
    4. White, Reilly & Marinakis, Yorgos & Islam, Nazrul & Walsh, Steven, 2020. "Is Bitcoin a currency, a technology-based product, or something else?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Jansson, Åsa, 2013. "Reaching for a sustainable, resilient urban future using the lens of ecosystem services," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 285-291.
    6. Adamson, Jordan, 2020. "Political institutions, resources, and war: Theory and evidence from ancient Rome," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus, 2017. "Entrepreneurship and Institutions: A Bidirectional Relationship," Working Paper Series 1153, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 05 May 2017.
    8. Figge, Frank & Hahn, Tobias & Barkemeyer, Ralf, 2014. "The If, How and Where of assessing sustainable resource use," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 274-283.
    9. Balland, Pierre-Alexandre & Broekel, Tom & Diodato, Dario & Giuliani, Elisa & Hausmann, Ricardo & O'Clery, Neave & Rigby, David, 2022. "Reprint of The new paradigm of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(8).
    10. Felfe, Christina & Hsin, Amy, 2012. "Maternal work conditions and child development," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1037-1057.
    11. AZOMAHOU, Théophile & BOUCEKKINE, Raouf & NGUYEN-VAN, Phu, 2009. "Promoting clean technologies under imperfect competition," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2009011, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    12. Eleni Giouli & Pisinas Yorgos & Anna-Maria Kanzola, 2021. "Human Capital and Production Structure: Evidence from Greece," European Journal of Economics and Business Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 7, January -.
    13. Ali, Abdul & Kelley, Donna J. & Levie, Jonathan, 2020. "Market-driven entrepreneurship and institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 117-128.
    14. Ferreira, Joao J. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Veiga, Pedro Mota & Caputo, Andrea, 2022. "The interactions of entrepreneurial attitudes, abilities and aspirations in the (twin) environmental and digital transitions? A dynamic panel data approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Stern, David I., 1997. "Limits to substitution and irreversibility in production and consumption: A neoclassical interpretation of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 197-215, June.
    16. Noël Bonneuil & Raouf Boucekkine, 2014. "Viable Ramsey economies," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(2), pages 422-441, May.
    17. Hamilton,Kirk E. & Helliwell,John F. & Woolcock,Michael, 2016. "Social capital, trust, and well-being in the evaluation of wealth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7707, The World Bank.
    18. M. Leroch & C. Reggiani & G. Rossini & E. Zucchelli, 2012. "Religious attitudes and home bias: theory and evidence from a pilot study," Working Papers wp811, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    19. Ahiakpor, James C.W., 2023. "A Comment on Maria Pia Paganelli’s Mistaken Treatment of Adam Smith’s “Four Stages” Theory of Economic Development," SocArXiv 9qp43, Center for Open Science.
    20. Edwards, Chase J. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Baker, Brent L. & Solomon, Shelby J., 2020. "Entrepreneurship within the history of marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 259-267.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:35:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11138-022-00571-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.