Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
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Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
1–10 of 12 posts
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#2The book is a nice read and pretty inspiring. I even gave it as a gift to a friend a few years ago.
Though e.g. in power plants big tends to be more efficient than small.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#3From the wikipedia page: "It is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies"
I personally * LOATHE * the phrase "appropriate technology".
In practice, this term is usually used by elitist first worlders condescending to second and third worlders. I scoff at the idea that some sociology grad student in the US knows more about how "the street" should use technology than actual people, living their real lives in Laos, or Kenya, or somewhere.
Further, the "appropriate" technology is usually "really clever" crap. "Oh, wow, we can dig a 10 foot deep well using nothing more than a piece of PVC pipe and five hours of labor!". ...and yet, you'd never catch these first world people getting their water supply from a 10' deep hole in their backyard - they're totally in favor of chlorine, municipal water, and more.
"Appropriate" is a word that parents use to correct five year old children.
First world adults using it to correct others, when they won't put any skin in the game themselves, rubs me the wrong way.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#4I have been meaning to read this for a long time...
Doesn't it say that there is something wrong with the scale of things in the first world (and point that out using energy consumption stats?)
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#5From the wikipedia page: "It is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies" I personally * LOATHE * the phrase "appropriate technology". In practice, this term is usually used by elitist first worlders condescending to second and third worlders. I scoff at the idea that some sociology grad student in the US knows more about how "the street" should use technology than actual people, living their real lives…
"you'd never catch these first world people getting their water supply from a 10' deep hole in their backyard - they're totally in favor of chlorine, municipal water, and more."
Wells are actually pretty common in the US. It depends on the water table and population density of an area.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#6Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much less efficient. Consumption would rise dramatically. Per-capita consumption decreases as centralization increases. Remember this from last year? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=619099
Also, the book says:
[S]ince consumption is merely a means to human well-being,
the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with
the minimum of consumption. The less toil there is, the
more time and strength is left for artistic creativity.
Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption
to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#7Definitely a great book. If you're interested in human-scale development, you should definitely check out the writings of Leopold Kohr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Kohr). E.F. Schumacher (of "Small is Beautiful" fame) was one of his students and Kohr writes even closer to the bone.
His books (my favorite: "The Overdeveloped Nations") are not only extremly insightful but actually fun to read.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#8From the wikipedia page: "It is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies" I personally * LOATHE * the phrase "appropriate technology". In practice, this term is usually used by elitist first worlders condescending to second and third worlders. I scoff at the idea that some sociology grad student in the US knows more about how "the street" should use technology than actual people, living their real lives…
"you'd never catch these first world people getting their water supply from a 10' deep hole in their backyard - they're totally in favor of chlorine, municipal water, and more." Wells are actually pretty common in the US. It depends on the water table and population density of an area.
Also in rural Australia & Ireland.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#9Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much less efficient. Consumption would rise dramatically. Per-capita consumption decreases as centralization increases. Remember this from last year? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=619099 Also, the book says: [S]ince consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. The less to…
> Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much less efficient.
Depends entirely on the business in question and the technologies and human factors involved. There's a reason most dentists work in small practices, but electrical power and processors are made in large capital-intensive plants.
Re: Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered
#10Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much less efficient. Consumption would rise dramatically. Per-capita consumption decreases as centralization increases. Remember this from last year? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=619099 Also, the book says: [S]ince consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption. The less to…
> Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much less efficient. Depends entirely on the business in question and the technologies and human factors involved. There's a reason most dentists work in small practices, but electrical power and processors are made in large capital-intensive plants.
Actually I think a big dentist-center would be a cool thing. Less money wasted on competition, easier ways for patients to get a specialists opinion if needed, cheaper access to supply, more efficient use of dental technicians / staff in general.
I guess the scale of centralization is the real question.