by Richard Heinberg
This post is one in a series from respected guest commentators while Chris is on vacation with his family and at work on his new book. The original article has been amended by the author in response to input from the CM community.
Economies are the systems by which humans create and distribute wealth. Economics is a set of philosophies, ideas, equations, and assumptions that describe how all of this does, or should, work.
The first economists were ancient Greek and Indian philosophers, among them Aristotle (382-322 BC)—who discussed the “art” of wealth acquisition and questioned whether property should best be owned privately or by government acting on behalf of the people. Little of real substance was added to the discussion during the next two thousand years.
by blaggers 
