Boyle's Law and Economics

 

Boyle's Law and Economics

Boyle’s Law states that the pressure of a given mass of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its volume at a constant temperature. Ideal gases are those which exist theoretically where the gas particles move in random, and they are free from interparticle interaction.

When an ideal gas is put in a container where the temperature is constant then the pressure of the ideal gas will increase when the volume it occupies starts to reduce, similarly the pressure of the gas will decrease when the volume of it occupies increases.

In Boyle’s Law the ideal gas us discussed with changeable volume which results in changing pressure provided the temperature is not altered. An attempt is made to read this Boyle’s Law in relation to economics. When volume gets designated to area of economic activity and pressure designated to economic stress, then economic conditions are to be kept to a constant like the temperature where the ideal gas gets designated to economic activity.

For an ideal condition the Boyle’s Law should read that the economic stress will reduce when the area of economic activity increases, similarly the economic stress will increase when the area of economic activity decreases.

In the era of globalization where the area of economic activity has increased diluted national borders the economic stress should be reduced to minimum giving greater scope for economic activities to progress and flourish. But this ideal condition is not present, what is seen is an increased level of economic distress resulting in waves of layoffs around.

Checking into what went wrong and what caused a deviated from the Boyle’s Law throws open many views. There can never be something called ideal gas, there are too many economic activities happening around. Some economic activities are in the same areas of business resulting in a competition within that industry. Some economic activities are interrelated to one and another causing a chain reaction.

The economic conditions are not constant like the temperature, Government policies, policies between nations, rate of exchange in currency rates, demands, supplies, inflations and recessions impact every bit of economic activities.

It looks like Boyle’s Law will not be true in a globalized economic activity. May be in a non-globalized and strictly self-sustained national economic activity Boyle’s Law may be true. Globalization assured a lot with enhanced economic activities but relatively delivered too little compromising of assurances and eventually increasing economic distress at a global level.

Not sure if the rise in interest rates, uncontrolled inflations, increasing exchange rates, layoffs, credit-based economy, depletion in savings, increase in debts, compromised revenues and escalation in living costs be tagged to globalization.

One thing is for sure, Boyle’s Law will not hold good in a real time economic activity on a global platform.