Non-Newtonian Economics

A few weeks ago, I came across a book titled The Economic Process: An Instantaneous Non-Newtonian Picture by Carmine Gorga.  I had not heard of Newton's use outside the field of mechanics, so I contacted the author and asked him if he could share a definition of non-Newtonian behavior in economics.  Here is his essay.

Concordian Economics: A non-Newtonian Construct by Carmine Gorga, Ph.D.

Concordian economics is a non-Newtonian construct because it does not respect the law of incompenetrability of bodies. As known since the theory was formulated by classical economists, economics is composed of three major elements: production (A), distribution (B), and consumption (C) of wealth. The meaning of these terms has varied over time.

In Concordian economics, production means production of real, physical wealth as well as services; distribution means distribution of value of ownership of rights over real and monetary wealth; consumption means expenditure of monetary wealth. Consumption as destruction of wealth in real terms is absorbed into the notion of net production.

As it can be seen, in addition to intangible services there are two terms in Concordian economics, money and ownership rights, which are not physical. They intermingle with the physical conception of real wealth. Hence, Concordian economics is a non-Newtonian construct.

Generally, mainstream economics is not faced with this Newtonian issue of incompenetrability of bodies because the nature of such real wealth as tables and chairs is made homogeneous by transforming it into the corresponding monetary value of tables and chairs. Quite apart from necessarily using monetary values, Concordian economics resolves the issue of non-homogeneity of real wealth with the assistance of such intellectual tools as labor-units, energy-units, or value-units. The issue is important because, if the meter were as flexible a unit of measurement as the dollar, we would never have been able to reach the moon and return so safely and effectively as we did.

(Continues after the jump)

You Cannot Change the Laws of Physics, Captain

Brooks Sports is advertising its new cushioning system by highlighting its viscoelastic properties.  The new system (called DNA [1]) uses a "highly-viscous non-Newtonian fluid."  The shock absorber uses a semi-liquid filling instead of a semi-solid filling.  The company blog interviews a material engineer who talks a little about basic non-Newtonian behavior.  He uses ketchup as an example.  So far, so good.

The web page that discusses the technology (link here) does have a mistake.  In the video at the bottom of the page, the material engineer states that a "non-Newtonian fluid does not obey the laws of physics." [2,3]

It is precisely because a non-Newtonian fluid obeys the laws of physics that we observe unusual physical behavior like shear-thinning or shear-thickening.  A fluid that did not obey the laws of physics would defy gravity, or it would spontaneously separate into its individual elemental components.  

[1]  I could not find an explanation for this abbreviation.

[2]  Brooks is traveling the country with a vat of cornstarch and water advertising the new technology.  For other videos of shear-thickening behavior, go here.
[3]  I left a comment on the Brooks blog, but either it was not approved, or was removed.