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Joseph A. Tainter had the best theory about empire collapse. The empire usually has some way of making an economic profit. They exploit it till it starts retu
by narrator 11y ago
Joseph A. Tainter had the best theory about empire collapse. The empire usually has some way of making an economic profit. They exploit it till it starts returning negative returns and then they try all kinds of counterproductive things that only make things more complicated to try and save that little scheme they've got going.
- sledge 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Tainter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Tainter Interesting stuff.
- blumkvist 11y agoYeah, but while others exploited natural resources or other things that decrease in volume over time, the US exploits currency, which only increases over time.
- narrator 11y agoRome did not collapse because of natural resource problems. Neither did Byzantium. They collapsed because their civilizational business model started generating negative marginal returns. This can happen for environmental reasons or it can happen for other reason.