IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2508.08723.html

A new monetary metric is found in the thermodynamic relation between energy and GDP

Author

Listed:
  • Brian P. Hanley

Abstract

A robust thermodynamic relation between inflation corrected monetary valuation and energy emerges from existing work. This is based on the energy used, the aggregate efficiency of all production processes ($\Lambda(t)$) in terms of Joules per dollar of gross world product, and the gross world product: $\frac{E_A(t) \text{[J]}}{\Lambda(t) \text{[J/\$]}} = Y(t) [\$]$ where: J = Joules, \$= currency. This directs us to the production system and all of its processes in addition to alternatives to carbon energy. The original relation appeared in 'Are there basic physical constraints on future anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide?' (Garrett 2011). There a foundation assumption was made that a variable $\lambda$ representing energy per dollar would disprove the presented model. However, because $\lambda$ has dimension [$\frac{E}{\$ \; GWP}$], it represents the aggregate efficiency of all global production, and cannot be a constant in an economic model. Thus, aggregate production efficiency is: $\Lambda(t) \equiv \sum {\lambda_i(t) \cdot \frac{P_i}{GWP}}$. The claimed 50 year constant relation of $W$ ($\sum_{i = n}^{t} Y_i \text{ [\$]}$) to the energy $E$ of the final year is incorrect -- the relation is not flat, nor should this be expected. The graph of $W$ from 1970 back in time is shown to have an historic minimum in 1970 driven by growth in energy consumption and increasing efficiency of energy use that is unlikely to be repeated. With improvements, a robust thermodynamic model is obtained that has general application to the relationship between money and energy and may be useable for evaluating the health of currencies and economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian P. Hanley, 2025. "A new monetary metric is found in the thermodynamic relation between energy and GDP," Papers 2508.08723, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2508.08723
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.08723
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jesus Felipe & John McCombie, 2020. "The illusions of calculating total factor productivity and testing growth models: from Cobb-Douglas to Solow and Romer," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 470-513, July.
    2. Timothy Garrett, 2011. "Are there basic physical constraints on future anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 437-455, February.
    3. Keen, Steve & Ayres, Robert U. & Standish, Russell, 2019. "A Note on the Role of Energy in Production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 40-46.
    4. Angus Deaton & Alan Heston, 2010. "Understanding PPPs and PPP-Based National Accounts," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 1-35, October.
    5. Geoffrey W. Gardiner, 2006. "The Evolution of Creditary Structures and Controls," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-28844-7, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Timothy J Garrett & Matheus Grasselli & Stephen Keen, 2020. "Past world economic production constrains current energy demands: Persistent scaling with implications for economic growth and climate change mitigation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Antonio Ciccone & Marek Jarociński, 2010. "Determinants of Economic Growth: Will Data Tell?," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 222-246, October.
    3. Wei Wang & Kehui Wei & Oleksandr Kubatko & Vladyslav Piven & Yulija Chortok & Oleksandr Derykolenko, 2023. "Economic Growth and Sustainable Transition: Investigating Classical and Novel Factors in Developed Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-15, August.
    4. David O. Argente & Chang-Tai Hsieh & Munseob Lee, 2020. "Measuring the Cost of Living in Mexico and the US," NBER Working Papers 27806, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Yin‐Wong Cheung & Eiji Fujii, 2014. "Exchange Rate Misalignment Estimates—Sources Of Differences," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 91-121, March.
    6. repec:ehl:lserod:108563 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jean Fouré & Agnès Bénassy-Quéré & Lionel Fontagné, 2012. "The Great Shift : Macroeconomic projections For the World Economy at the 2050 Horizon," Working Papers hal-00962464, HAL.
    8. H. Georg Schulze, 2010. "Ein Modell der Ekonomie als System von neuronalen Netzwerken - Ein Umriss [Connectionist Economics - An Outline]," Post-Print hal-01492977, HAL.
    9. Palma, Nuno & Reis, Jaime, 2019. "From Convergence to Divergence: Portuguese Economic Growth, 1527–1850," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 477-506, June.
    10. Manal Ayyad Dhif Alshammry & Saqib Muneer, 2023. "The influence of economic development, capital formation, and internet use on environmental degradation in Saudi Arabia," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Mick Silver, 2010. "IMF Applications of Purchasing Power Parity Estimates," IMF Working Papers 2010/253, International Monetary Fund.
    12. Timothy J. Garrett & Matheus R. Grasselli & Stephen Keen, 2020. "Past production constrains current energy demands: persistent scaling in global energy consumption and implications for climate change mitigation," Papers 2006.03718, arXiv.org.
    13. Rafael Lahoz-Beltra, 2018. "The 'Crisis of Noosphere' as a Limiting Factor to Achieve the Point of Technological Singularity," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 16(1), pages 92-109.
    14. Jesus Felipe & John McCombie & Aashish Mehta, 2025. "Is anything left of the debate about the sources of growth in East Asia 30 years later? A critical survey," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 247-280, April.
    15. Michael J. Handel & Alexandria Valerio & Maria Laura Sánchez Puerta, 2016. "Accounting for Mismatch in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24906, April.
    16. Dirk J. Bezemer, 2012. "Modelos contables y comprensión de la crisis financiera," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 14(26), pages 47-76, January-J.
    17. Marivoet, Wim, 2016. "Food markets and nutrition in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004–2005)," IFPRI discussion papers 1566, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Kamil Makieła & Błażej Mazur & Jakub Głowacki, 2022. "The Impact of Renewable Energy Supply on Economic Growth and Productivity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-13, June.
    19. Baki Guney Isikara, 2018. "The Weight of Essentials in Economic Activity," Working Papers 1814, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    20. Deng, Kent & O’Brien, Patrick Karl, 2016. "China’s GDP per capita from the Han Dynasty to communist times," Economic History Working Papers 64857, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    21. Okeke, Edward N., 2013. "Brain drain: Do economic conditions “push” doctors out of developing countries?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 169-178.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:arx:papers:2508.08723. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.