Biophysical and Marxist Economics: Learning From Each Other
Author(s)
Kaufman, Robert
Abstract
The attempt by the Ukrainian socialist Sergei Podolinsky to use the laws of thermodynamics to analyze agricultural and industrial energy flows was rejected by Marx and Engels, leading later Marxists to disregard biophysical analyses of production. This paper suggests that both ecological economists and Marxists can benefit from a reconciliation of physical analyses of production with theories of valuation and distribution.
