Kenneth Boulding nsIn existographies, Kenneth Boulding (1910-1993) (CR:22) was an English-born American economist noted, in ecological economics, for his 1966 to 1978 entropy theories, of the material entropy variety, and ideas applied in ecology and economics.

Overview
In 1956, Boulding, supposedly, was a developer of general systems theory.

In 1964, Boulding, in his The Meaning of the 20th Century, devoted a chapter to what he calls "The Entropy Trap", later cited by Jeremy Rifkin (1980), , where he argues that a post-civilization will arise when a “mutation” makes all men geniuses, after which a “society specializing in spiritual experiences” will emerge. [4]

In 1966, Boulding, in his “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth”, introduced the term “material entropy”. [5]

In 1978, Boulding, in ecodynamics, introduced a view of entropy and the second law in relation to social evolution. [1]

Boulding, in his theories, cited Pierre Teilhard, and his views on entropy and the noosphere, as well as Ludwig Bertalanffy, and his views on entropy and open systems, which may have been possible sources from where he learned the concept of entropy, albeit in a very erroneous or elementary sense.

Some cited Boulding as having introduced the concept of entropy in ecological economics, particularly on the subject of waste material management. [2]

Some have argued that the science of economic thermodynamics began following the publication of Boulding’s famous 1966 article “The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth”, in conjunction with Romanian mathematician Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s 1971 book The Entropy Law and the Economic Process, after which economist became interested in the subject. [3]

References
1. (a) Boulding, Kenneth E. (1956). “General Systems Theory: the Skeleton of Science”, Management Science, 2: 197-208.
(b) Boulding, Kenneth E. (1966). Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy. John Hopkins Press.
(c) Boulding, Kenneth E. (1978). Ecodynamics: A New Theory of Social Evolution (keyword: entropy). Sage Publication.
2. Mayumi, Kozo and Giampietro, Mario. (2004). Ch. 5: “Entropy in Ecological Economics” (pgs. 80-101) in Modelling in Ecological Economics by John Proops and Paul Safonov. Edward Elgar Publishing.
3. (a) O’Hara, Phillip A. (1999). Encyclopedia of Political Economy, (section: “Entropy, Negentropy, and the Laws of Thermodynamics”, pg. 261-65). Routledge.
(b) Boulding, Kenneth E. (1966). "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth", in H. Jarret, ed., Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy. Johns Hopkins University Press.
(c) This paper (Spaceship Earth) was first presented by Kenneth Ewart Boulding at the Sixth Resources for the Future Forum on Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy in Washington, D.C. on March 8, 1966.
(d) The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth – Encyclopedia of Earth.
4. (a) Boulding, Kenneth. (1964). The Meaning of the 20th Century: the Great Transition (§7: The Entropy Trap; entropy, 10+ pgs). Harper & Row.
(b) Tillson, David S. (c.1965). “Review: The Meaning of the 20th Century” (pdf), American Anthropologist, 68(1).
(c) Schweller, Randall L. (2014). Maxwell’s Demon and the Golden Apple: Global Discord in the New Millennium (pg. 10). JHU Press.
5. Boulding, Kenneth E. (1966). "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth", in H. Jarret, ed., Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy. Johns Hopkins University Press.

External links
Kenneth E. Boulding – Wikipedia.
Boulding’s Evolutionary Perspective – Wikipedia.
TDics icon ns