GeorgescuRoegen

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen was a Romanian-American mathematician, statistician, and economist. He is best known for his contributions to the field of ecological economics and his work on entropy. Born in 1906, Georgescu-Roegen was a prodigious student who earned degrees in mathematics and statistics. He later turned his attention to economics, where he became a prominent critic of mainstream economic thought.

His most influential work, "The Entropy Law and the Economic Process" (1971), applied the concept of the second law of thermodynamics to economic activity. Georgescu-Roegen argued that economic processes are dissipative, meaning they consume low-entropy resources and generate high-entropy waste, ultimately leading to a depletion of available resources and an increase in environmental degradation. This perspective challenged the prevailing view of economics as a perpetually growing, closed system.

Georgescu-Roegen also made significant contributions to decision theory and probability. He developed concepts like the "lexicographic" ordering of preferences, which suggests that individuals may prioritize certain goods or outcomes over others in a way that is not reducible to simple utility maximization. His work has been a cornerstone for ecological economists and has influenced discussions on sustainability, resource depletion, and the limits to economic growth. He passed away in 1994.