Coffman, D'Maris;
Scazzieri, Roberto;
(2024)
A Reappraisal of Albert Aftalion’s Theory of Structural Transformation in an Era of Decarbonization.
Business History Review
, 98
(1)
pp. 237-257.
10.1017/s0007680524000205.
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Abstract
Decarbonization is a momentous challenge for capitalism and makes one to ask which changes in its morphology may be necessary to achieve that objective. The contribution by the French economist Albert Aftalion (1874–1956), with its emphasis on intermediate levels of aggregation (the “meso“ approach), the differentiated time profiles of economic actoivities, and their differential speeds of reaction to dynamic impulses, provides an invaluable heuristic for conceptualizing the structural transformations required by transition to a low energy regime. Aftalion’s analysis of industrial capitalism emphasizes that structural changes occur along multiple co-existing time horizons. This provides tools to analyze the time constraints on the sequencing of structural changes for different sectors on a decarbonization trajectory without neglecting the strict time requirements for implementing effective climate change mitigation. This interplay of time horizons is central to decarbonization, and it will require a new balance between the invisible hand of markets and the visible hand of states and other public bodies. Moreover, Aftalion’s emphasis on material constraints offers a novel approach to conceptualizing the importance of intermediate levels of aggregation in economic theory, thereby offering a new basis for sectoral policymaking and a fundamental challenge to institutionalist accounts of the morphology of capitalism.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Reappraisal of Albert Aftalion’s Theory of Structural Transformation in an Era of Decarbonization |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0007680524000205 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0007680524000205 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright © 2024 The President and Fellows of Harvard College |
| Keywords: | growth regimes, decarbonization, intersectoral interdependencies, structural economic change, history of economic thought, Albert Aftalion |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10195495 |
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