Distributed economy
{{Short description|Concept in network theory}}
{{Mergeto|Network economy|date=April 2025}}
Distributed economies (DE) is a term that was coined by Allan Johansson et al. in 2005.Johansson A, Kisch P, Mirata M., 2005, [http://www.delabs.org/Pdf's%20&%20docs/DE%20article3%20Journal%20of%20Cleaner%20prod..pdf Distributed economies - A new engine for innovation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928051150/http://www.delabs.org/Pdf%27s%20%26%20docs/DE%20article3%20Journal%20of%20Cleaner%20prod..pdf |date=September 28, 2007 }}. Journal of Cleaner Production 2005;13:971-9
Definition
There is no official definition for DE, but it could be described as a regional approach to promote innovation by small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as sustainable development. The concept is illustrated in the figure below, that shows centralised, decentralised and distributed economies respectively.
Image:Centralised-decentralised-distributed.png
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Features
The relations in DE are much more complex than those in a centralised economy. This feature makes the whole economy more stable – leaf nodes no longer rely on just one central node. It also resembles ecological networks, making it a good practical example of industrial ecology.
A big advantage of DE is that it enables entities within the network to work much more with regional/local natural resources, finances, human capital, knowledge, technology, and so on. It also makes the entities more flexible to respond to the local market needs and thus generating a bigger innovation drive. By doing this, they become a better reflection of their social environment and in that way they can improve quality of life.
The whole concept of DE is not at all a new invention – this is how most pre-industrial economies were organised. However, information technology has opened new doors for the concept: information can be shared much more easily and small-scale production facilities (rapid prototyping) are becoming cheaper.{{Cite web |url=http://www.desktopfactory.com/news/nytimes_050907.pdf |title=New York Times - Beam It Down From the Web, Scotty |access-date=2007-06-19 |archive-date=2011-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725191110/http://www.desktopfactory.com/news/nytimes_050907.pdf |url-status=dead }}
The DE concept works well with the development of fab labs.
Not all industries are fit for DE; for example, many chemical processes only become economically feasible & efficient on a large scale. On the other hand, bio-energy{{cite journal |last1=Mirata |first1=Murat |last2=Nilsson |first2=Helen |last3=Kuisma |first3=Jaakko |title=Production systems aligned with distributed economies: Examples from energy and biomass sectors |journal=Journal of Cleaner Production |date=August 2005 |volume=13 |issue=10–11 |pages=981–991 |doi=10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.12.018|bibcode=2005JCPro..13..981M }} and consumer products are interesting candidates.
See also
- {{annotated link|Decentralized planning (economics)}}
- {{annotated link|Distributism}}
- {{annotated link|Long tail}}
- {{annotated link|Open-design movement}}
- {{annotated link|Slow design}}
References
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928051144/http://www.delabs.org/index_eng.asp DeLabs - Learning Labs for Distributed Economies]
- [http://www.iiiee.lu.se/home.nsf/$webAll/60077aa16a0e4f4cc1256c54003769ed!OpenDocument&Click= DE at The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University, Sweden]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Distributed Economy}}