What question did this study set out to answer?

To create a framework that measures productive transformation in physical units without monetary abstraction.

March 29, 2026Open Access

Natural Economic Wealth: A Thermodynamic Measurement Framework

Key Points

To create a framework that measures productive transformation in physical units without monetary abstraction.
Defined productive activity as a physical realization of an algorithm under specific constraints.
Measured productive activity through energy throughput based on the action integral of energy flows.
Established the system boundary based on the algorithm rather than the analyst's perspective.
Identified efficiency as deviation from least-action realizations within acceptable algorithms.
Showed how productive transformation can be captured directly without subjective valuation.

Abstract

This paper presents a framework for measuring productive transformation directly in physical units, without monetary abstraction, and without recourse to subjective valuation. Productive activity is dened as the physical realisation of an algorithm under a specied constraint, measured via causally required energy throughput: the action integral over all energy ows required by the algorithm's execution. The system boundary is determined by the algorithm itself, not by the analyst. Efficiency emerges as deviation from least-action realisations within the set of algorithms that satisfy the same constraint.

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