I haven’t enlivened this blog with a picture lately, so here goes. Herewith my conception of the economic pyramid:
It’s worth a moment to contemplate this structure. When all else fails, the bottom structure is the basic one. Humanity can survive at the bottom. The more each layer is dependent on the one above it for well being—thus farming on machinery and loans, for instance—the more failure can also trickle down. As the pyramid rises, so does urbanization and the degrees of interaction increase proportionally as well. Therefore when a sector gets in trouble, more people are affected over a greater geographical region.
Appropriate, mutually supportive exchange is the guarantee of welfare all around. The topmost sector accumulates excess wealth. It must ensure that it goes down again. If the wealth is spoiled at the top, it will affect the bottom. But when everything fails, we’ll still be hunting and gathering.
Filed under: Economies
A graphic can lend so much perspective. Nice. Reminds me of the always interesting population pyramids
Now, wouldn’t it be interesting to see this pyramid made in such a way that each sector’s importance to the GDP were reflected… I’ll bet that would turn things on their head!