Procrustean Art of Backtracking: “Dimensions in Economics”

 

The most basic dimension on earth (L³) is the period of time (T) because the time duration in Here is limited for each and every creature, as opposed to in Eternity across the River (L^-1) where the time stops lapsing (T⁰).

             The second most critical dimension in Economics is the currency unit defined by the Sovereignty as metric across the commonwealth for the value of utilities (U) of all types and kinds. The sources of utilities are not limited to the apple, the orange, the housing, taking a nap, playing with grandchildren and “leisure,” but way beyond our imagination.

             Please do not account for anything in terms of mass (“M”) only, be it called “real quantity.” After all, “real” in macroeconomics may in reality mean “surreal,” if not “nominal.” As Adam Smith pinpoints, “It’s the consumption utility!”

             The dimension often goes negative in accounting: after all, in all races, real, virtual or metaphorical, the winner is defined with the speed, x/ T (e.g. per annum), x/ L (per mile), x/ M (per carat save gravity) or x/ U (per portrait of George Washington). None of us is a slaver of the marketer, but nevertheless we instinctively buy into her proposition “The Bang for the Buck.”

             The GDP grows ten times bigger? Amazing, but when or where do you mean, immediately, over Ten Thousand Years, across Five Hundred Miles or else?

 

Dimension Denotation (as copied from somewhere else)

             In physical sciences: “T” for time period, “L” for length in space and “M” for mass

             Additionally in economics: “U” for value of utility, borrowed from W.S. Jevons   

                          The Theory of Political Economy (1871), posthumous 5th edition in 1957

             Homogeneity: “T” and “L” homogeneous; “M” heterogeneous

                                “U” heterogeneous in private, yet homogenous in public

             For example:    Utility, benefit, cost, worth and price: M∙U

                                        Product, power or asset eligible for exchange: M∙U

                                        Medium of exchange: M∙U                                   

                                        The sovereign currency name/unit/metric: “U”

                                        Legal tender: U∙m (“m” as public numeraire of mass)

                                        “M” for money stock: U∙m

                                        ΔM/ Δt for money provision: U∙m ∙T^-1

                                        Venue of the market: L²

                                        The market price: U∙m

                                        (Negative dimension only for the purpose of accounting)

Amazing Grace – In Ten Thousand Years!

Peter, Paul and Mary - Across 500 Miles