ENL Glossary
Where a term has several variations, these are listed under the general term. Thus, "Production efficiency" is listed as "Efficiency - production".
- Absorption capacity - labor
- A population’s ability to minimize labor cost. This is determined by the population’s size and labor saturation pattern, and by labor distribution.
- Absorption capacity - waste
- A population’s ability to minimize a waste’s natural cost. This is determined by the population’s size and waste tolerance pattern, and by waste distribution.
- Allocation
- The social act of assigning an input, or set of inputs, to the production of an intermediate or final output. The output can either remain in the local region or be exported.
- Biological flow
- One of the three natural flow categories that have biological effects : habitat destruction, utilization of renewables, and expulsion of wastes.
- Budget limit
- The economic scale that exhausts an environmental budget.
- Budget share
- The portion of an environmental budget that is allotted to a final output. This allotment is based on the output's marginal health gains, relative to the other final outputs that require the flow.
- Constrained capitalist logic
- The conservative logic of sustainable well-being. This is equivalent to ENL and ecological economics regarding natural limits, but adheres to capitalist logic with respect to well-being.
- Consumption
- The assimilation and utilization of outputs in order to satisfy consumption desires.
- Consumption capacity
- A population’s ability to convert potential value into effectual value. This is determined by the population’s size and satiation pattern, and by output distribution.
- Cost - input
- The direct and indirect effects of production on health, for the entire duration of these effects. The direct effects are called labor cost, and the indirect effects are called natural cost.
- Cost - labor
- The health effects of the labor process. Labor cost is positive when labor decreases health; it is negative when labor increases health.
- Cost - natural
- The global health effects of the environmental changes resulting from production. Natural cost is positive when these effects decrease health; it is negative when they increase health.
- Distribution
- The social acts of assigning final outputs, labor, and wastes to individuals.
- Ecological limit (economy)
- An economy's lowest budget limit. That is, the maximum scale that an economy can reach without violating its most restrictive environmental budget.
- Ecological limit (output)
- A final output's lowest share limit. That is, the maximum quantity that can be produced without violating the output’s most restrictive budget share.
- Ecological limit (population)
- The maximum population that can be supported, at a specified rate of average per-capita consumption, by an economy at its ecological limit.
- Economic logic
- The factors that guide an economy’s activities and thus determine its main outcomes - the outputs produced and their quantities, natural flow rates, and the population level.
- Economic scale
- An economy’s size for a specific output mix.
- Economics - contractionary
- The economic theory of a contractionary society. It will combine a functional framework with the logic of sustainable well-being as the guiding framework.
- Economics - ecological
- A heterodox theory that focus on environmental integrity and the economy's optimal scale.
- Economics - heterodox
- Various progressive economic theories that oppose the narrow mathematical approach and (in most cases) the ideologically conservative stance of the standard discipline.
- Economics - Marxian
- The theory developed by Karl Marx, which critically analyzes capitalism based on the labor theory of (exchange) value.
- Economics - standard
- The dominant economic theory of a capitalist society. Also called "neoclassical economics", it both justifies and helps implement the system's economic logic.
- Efficiency - allocation
- The measure of success in maximizing health from the allocation of inputs. This is a ratio, expressed as a percentage: net gains divided by maximum achievable gains.
- Efficiency - consumption
- The measure of success in maximizing health from the consumption of final outputs. This is a ratio, expressed as a percentage: effectual value divided by potential value.
- Efficiency - distribution
- The measure of success in maximizing health in the distribution of final outputs. This is a ratio, expressed as a percentage: effectual value divided by the maximum achievable effectual value.
- Efficiency - ecological
- The measure of the success in minimizing a natural flow in production. This is a ratio: output quantity divided by flow quantity.
- Efficiency - economic
- The summary measure of an economy's success in transforming inputs into health. This is a ratio: net gains divided by input quantity.
- Efficiency - production
- The measure of the success in generating potential gains through production. This is a ratio: potential gains divided by input quantity.
- Environmental budget
- The maximum rate of a biological flow that does not cause ecological degradation. Thus, the maximum rates of habitat destruction, utilization of renewables, and expulsion of wastes that do not cause cumulative or destructive effects in the environment.
- Environmental expenditure
- The quantity of a biological flow used in production, relative to its environmental budget. Nonrenewable resources, which have no environmental budgets, are subject to depletion rather than expenditure.
- Forgone health
- The sacrifice made in allocation; thus, the health that would have been achieved by producing the best alternative output from a set of inputs.
- Functional framework
- A conceptual structure that addresses an economy's operational mechanisms. A functional framework cannot set economic objectives. Compare: "guiding framework".
- Gain
- A health increase that considers either consumption or production, but not both. Positive effectual value and negative input cost is each a gain. Compare: “loss”.
- Gains
- A health increase that results from consumption and production, taken together. Gains are equal to effectual value minus input cost, when the first is greater than the second. Compare: "losses".
- Gains - net
- Gains minus losses.
- Gains - potential
- The maximum possible gains from the production of a final output, equal to its delivered potential value (after transportation) minus its input cost.
- Guiding framework
- A conceptual structure that establishes the objectives that an economy must achieve in order to attain its stated goal. ENL is a guiding framework with the goal of sustainable well-being. Compare: "functional framework".
- Human efficiencies
- The five efficiency measures (allocation, production, consumption, distribution, and economic) that refer to health in their definitions. Excluded is ecological efficiency.
- Humankind - future
- People who will be alive in the future, and who will therefore experience the consequences of economic decisions made by present humankind.
- Humankind - present
- People who are currently alive, and who therefore make economic decisions that will impact future humankind.
- Individual net gains
- The net gains achieved by an individual from consumption (effectual value) and production (input cost) over a specified period of time.
- Input
- A resource used in production, such as labor, natural materials, productive assets like machines and buildings, and various services (accounting, legal, janitorial, etc.).
- Labor
- The human input to production. Labor includes all activities, such as transportation to and from the work site, that are immediately necessary for workers to engage in production.
- Labor productivity
- The quantity of an intermediate or final output produced per unit of labor time. This is a ratio: output quantity divided by labor time.
- Labor saturation
- The exhaustion of an individual’s capacity to engage in labor without incurring labor cost, due to the physical constitution of the human body. Labor saturation is analogous to waste tolerance and output satiation.
- Limit - impact
- The maximum output rate that allows the biosphere to absorb the resulting environmental effects without damage or degradation.
- Limit - resource
- The maximum sustainable output rate in the absence of nonrenewable resources.
- Logic of sustainable well-being
- An economic logic designed to guide the economy towards environmental sustainability and human well-being. The author's proposal for the progressive version is ENL. The conservative version is called constrained capitalist logic.
- Long run
- The relatively long-term future, during which physical as well as behavioral changes are possible in the economy. Compare: “short run”.
- Loss
- A health decrease that considers either consumption or production, but not both. Negative effectual value and positive input cost is each a loss. Compare: “gain”.
- Losses
- A health decrease that results from consumption and production, taken together. Losses are equal to input cost minus effectual value, when the first is greater than the second. Compare: "gains".
- Lost potential health
- The health that is unrealized when an individual dies as a result of consumption or production. The lost health is calculated from the date of death to the expected date of death.
- Maldistribution
- Distribution that fails to maximize aggregate health. More specifically : the distribution of a final output to consumers who do not have the highest consumption capacities, and the distribution of labor and wastes to individuals who do not have the highest absorption capacities.
- Natural flow
- An interaction between nature and the economy. Four categories are recognized : habitat destruction, utilization of renewables, expulsion of wastes, and utilization of nonrenewables. The first three are called biological flows.
- Need
- A consumption desire that increases health when it is satisfied. Compare: “want”.
- Negated gains
- The reduced gains resulting from the decrease in an output's quantity during rapid contraction.
- Negated impact
- The reduced environmental impact resulting from the decrease in an output's quantity during rapid contraction.
- Negated losses
- The reduced losses resulting from the decrease in an output's quantity during rapid contraction.
- Optimum scale
- The economy's scale where the marginal input cost of total outputs equals their marginal effectual value.
- Optimum quantity (final output)
- The output quantity where marginal input cost equals marginal effectual value. This is also referred to as the output’s economic limit.
- Optimum quantity (intermediate output)
- The minimum quantity of an intermediate output required for the optimum quantities of all associated final outputs.
- Optimum population
- The population level that maximizes a society's average individual net gains based on scale effects.
- Output
- An object or service that is consumed or utilized. This can refer to either a final output or an intermediate output.
- Output - final
- An output that is directly consumed or utilized to satisfy consumption desires.
- Output - intermediate
- An output that is not directly consumed or utilized to satisfy consumption desires, but is instead employed in the production or consumption of other outputs.
- Output - irrational
- An output whose input cost is greater than its effectual value at all quantities. The optimum and target quantities for such an output are zero.
- Output life cycle
- All stages of a final output's economic existence, including the extraction of natural resources, the production of associated intermediate outputs, the production of the final output itself, its consumption and maintenance, and its eventual recycling or disposal.
- Output losses
- The negation of outputs after they have been produced. In the production sphere (during transportation and storage) these reduce potential value. In the consumption sphere (after delivery to points of distribution) these reduce effectual value.
- Output rate
- The quantity of outputs produced by an economy over a specified period of time. Overshoot : Impact overshoot and resource overshoot, collectively.
- Overshoot - impact
- Violation of the impact limit.
- Overshoot model
- An extension to ENL that makes the three overshoot factors — population, average consumption rate, and ecological efficiencies — clearly visible, permitting effective ENL analysis during overshoot reversal or collapse management.
- Overshoot - resource
- Violation of the resource limit.
- Overshoot reversal
- Any combination of rapid contraction and increased ecological efficiencies that reverses impact and resource overshoot.
- Physical health index
- ENL's preliminary method for measuring an individual's physical health level, thus providing the basis for a prospective health unit.
- Production
- The economic conversion of inputs into outputs.
- Rapid contraction
- The sharp decrease in an economy's rate of production and consumption.
- Sacrifice
- What is given up when inputs are allocated to, and then used in, production. ENL recognizes two types of sacrifice: forgone health, which relates to the allocation of inputs to production, and input cost, which relates to the production process itself.
- Satiation
- The exhaustion of an individual’s capacity to absorb final outputs without a decrease in marginal effectual value, due to the physical constitution of the human body. Satiation is analogous to labor saturation and waste tolerance.
- Scale effects
- The opportunities for cooperation, specialization, exchange, and trade that initially accompany a rising population.
- Scope - analytical
- The set of economic topics for which ENL takes analytical responsibility : humankind's allocation, production, distribution, and consumption.
- Scope - geographical
- The analyst’s choice of the geographical area to which ENL-based analysis applies. Geographical scope is either global or regional.
- Share limit
- The quantity of a final output that exhausts a budget share.
- Short run
- The relatively near-term future, during which behavioral but not physical changes are possible in the economy. Compare: “long run”.
- Sustainability
- The absence, through reversal or avoidance, of overshoot.
- Sustainability - impact
- The absence, through avoidance or reversal, of impact overshoot.
- Sustainability - resource
- The absence, through avoidance or reversal, of resource overshoot.
- Sustainable well-being
- ENL’s economic goal: the achievement of impact sustainability, resource sustainability, and global well-being.
- Target flow rate
- For the current population, the natural flow rate required for the production of target output quantities, at the highest achievable ecological efficiencies.
- Target quantity (final output)
- For the current population, the lower of an output's optimum quantity and ecological limit.
- Target quantity (intermediate output)
- For the current population, the minimum quantity required for the target quantities of all associated final outputs.
- Target population
- The lower of a population’s optimum level and its ecological limit.
- Target scale
- For the current population, the lower of an economy's optimum scale and ecological limit.
- Technological complexity
- The extent to which technology is employed in the economy. See "technological neutrality".
- Technological intensity
- The extent to which technology substitutes for autonomous human action in a labor process.
- Technological neutrality
- The principle that technological complexity is a social choice, and is therefore irrelevant for judging economic performance or progress.
- Total outputs
- All the outputs produced by an economy.
- Trade
- The physical movement of an output from the region where it is produced (export) to another region where it is consumed (import). Analytically, trade can arise only when the analyst chooses regional geographical scope.
- Value - effectual
- The realization of potential value, and therefore the actual health effect from the consumption of a final output. Effectual value can be positive, negative, or zero.
- Value - potential
- The maximum capacity of a final output, over the duration of its useful existence, to affect health. Potential value can be positive, negative, or zero.
- Want
- A consumption desire that does not increase health when it is satisfied. Wants are divided into two categories : sanctioned (socially approved) and unsanctioned (socially rejected). compare: “need”.
- Waste tolerance
- The exhaustion of an individual’s capacity to absorb a waste without incurring natural cost, due to the physical constitution of the human body. Waste tolerance is analogous to labor saturation and output satiation.
- Well-being
- Part of ENL's economic goal : the achievement of maximum health from production and consumption (individual net gains) plus the satisfaction of all sanctioned wants.