A Capital Idea

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Capital, Systems, and Objects

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Abstract

Since life emerged, the earth has become a capital creation system. Capital creation has changed the face of the globe from a collection of rocks, gases, and water to an ensemble of forests, plains, cities, and other forms of capital

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Dean and Kretschmer (2007).

  2. 2.

    Lane (2015).

  3. 3.

    Compounds of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Sucrose is C12H22O11.

  4. 4.

    This section draws upon Wulf (2015).

  5. 5.

    Holland (1995).

  6. 6.

    Gaia was a Greek goddess who personified the earth.

  7. 7.

    Lovelock (1979).

  8. 8.

    Lovelock (2010).

  9. 9.

    Alvarez et al. (1979).

  10. 10.

    Schramski et al. (2015).

  11. 11.

    Harmand et al. (2015).

  12. 12.

    Stout (2016).

  13. 13.

    Diamond (1997).

  14. 14.

    Bernstein (2008).

  15. 15.

    Smith (1776).

  16. 16.

    However, it was not until the 1960s that economist started to appreciate the importance of human capital investment. See Schultz (1961).

  17. 17.

    Marx (1867).

  18. 18.

    https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/02/06/what-it-takes-to-be-a-ceo-in-the-2020s.

  19. 19.

    Stiroh (2002).

  20. 20.

    Dean and Kretschmer (2007).

  21. 21.

    Hawken et al. (2010).

  22. 22.

    Schumacher (1973).

  23. 23.

    http://fortune.com/worlds-most-admired-companies/list/.

  24. 24.

    http://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/for-qualified-professionals/working/mittelstand.

  25. 25.

    For a brief explanation of the effect of atmospheric CO2 on average global temperature, see http://www.howglobalwarmingworks.org/in-under-5-min-ba.html.

  26. 26.

    https://www.footprintnetwork.org.

  27. 27.

    The choice of the prime superscript is to stress the importance of capital productivity and energy efficiency in a capital creation system.

  28. 28.

    Farag (2000).

  29. 29.

    Sixto (2002).

  30. 30.

    Cassasus et al. (2000).

  31. 31.

    Landes (1999).

  32. 32.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autoshow-la-nissan-infiniti/new-nissan-engine-bids-to-extend-life-for-internal-combustion-idUSKBN1DO1YL..

  33. 33.

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/shut-up-about-the-batteries-the-key-to-a-better-electric-car-is-a-lighter-motor.

  34. 34.

    Jerusalem, a poem by William Blake.

  35. 35.

    Beckert (2015).

  36. 36.

    Goody and Watt (1963).

  37. 37.

    Stiroh (2002).

  38. 38.

    http://www.mckinsey.com/Insights/Business_Technology/The_rise_of_the_digital_bank?cid=DigitalEdge-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1407.

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Correspondence to Richard Thomas Watson .

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Watson, R.T., Mathew, S.K. (2021). A Capital Idea. In: Capital, Systems, and Objects. Management for Professionals. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6625-1_1

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