Liebig's Law of The Minimum - Other Applications

Other Applications

More recently Liebig's Law is starting to find an application in natural resource management where it surmises that growth in markets dependent upon natural resource inputs is restricted by the most limited -scarcest- input. As the natural capital upon which growth depends is limited in supply due to the finite nature of the planet, Liebig's Law encourages scientists and natural resource managers to calculate the scarcity of essential resources in order to allow for a multigenerational approach to resource consumption (See:sustainability/sustainable development).

Neo-liberal economic theory has sought to refute the issue of resource scarcity by application of the law of substitutability and technological innovation. The substitutability 'law', which has a powerful influence on the discourse of ideas despite the lack of an empirical evidence, states that as one resource is exhausted — and prices rise due to a lack of surplus — new markets based on alternative resources appear at certain prices in order to satisfy demand. Technological innovation implies that humans are able to use technology to fill the gaps in situations where resources are imperfectly substitutable.

Economic theories based on ceteris paribus deal only with a small selection of variables and are a weak planning tool when applied to the complex web of interconnectedness of the global market responsible for the primary consumption of natural resources. While the theory of the law of substitutability may seem to reinforce the postulation that economic growth is invulnerable to resource limits it fails to consider the underlying implication of Liebig's Law: If the resource which is limited in supply is also essential to the establishment of substitute markets, then substitution cannot occur. For example, Isaac Asimov noted:

We may be able to substitute nuclear power for coal power, and plastics for wood... but for phosphorus there is neither substitute nor replacement. —Isaac Asimov, "Life's Bottleneck", Fact and Fancy