Description: Like Systems of Survival, The Nature of Economies is in the form of a Platonic dialogue. The participants are contemporary New Yorkers. The question for discussion is: Does economic life obey the same rules as those that govern the systems in nature; in other words, should economists study, for example, the way plants grow to maximize their intake of sunlight as a viable model for energy efficiency in auto design? The question is both simple and profound, and the answers that emerge will shape the way people think about how economies really work -- just as all of Jane Jacobs' earlier books have done. By analyzing nature, Jacobs analyzes the economy.

Jacobs teaches us to look to systems in nature for economic models that are both efficient and ecologically-friendly. She argues that free, open, and productive economies are themselves natural processes. Ultimately, Jacobs sets out powerful arguments about how to grow and sustain both our natural world and our economic resources.

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