Even as
financial development was simply taking off, some economic experts were currently cynical. Coal, wrote William Stanley Jevons in 1865, is "the mainspring of contemporary material civilisation". Yet it was limited and would quickly go out. Although more could be found by digging deeper, it would be progressively expensive to extract and these higher
expenses would lower the competitiveness of Britain's makers. After all, in other countries the black fuel was still in sight of
daytime.
Efficiency gains-using less coal to
produce the exact same amount of
stuff-would not save the country. Indeed, cleverer usage of restricted resources would just
provide an incentive to burn a lot more coal, which would, paradoxically, cause an even faster use of British reserves. There was no escape, the Victorian financial expert thought. Coal would be exhausted and the nation was likely to "agreement to her previous littleness".
Explore more
This short article appeared in the Finance &
economics area of the print edition under the headline "Rocked by DeepSeek"
Finance & economics February 1st 2025
Donald Trump's economic warfare has a
brand-new front
Will
America's crypto frenzy end in
catastrophe?
Don't let
Donald Trump see our Big Mac index
Giorgia Meloni has grand banking ambitions
Can
Germany's economy phase an
unanticipated healing?
Why your portfolio is less diversified than you might believe
Tech tycoons have got the economics of
AI wrong
From the February 1st 2025 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
More from Finance & economics
Why your portfolio is less diversified than you might think
The most essential idea in
modern-day financing has actually become maddeningly tough to implement
Can Germany's economy stage an
unanticipated recovery?
The situation is dire, but there are glimmers of hope
Giorgia Meloni has grand banking aspirations
Will
Italy's nationalist prime minister manage to concentrate financial power?
Donald Trump's financial warfare has a brand-new front
The president has
threatened to blow up the worldwide tax system. Will allies be able to stop him?
%20Is%20Used%20In%20Biometrics.jpg)
Author