The Current Economy: Electricity Markets and Techno-Economics

The book "The Current Economy" is an ethnography of electricity markets in the United States that explores the heterogenous and technologically inflected nature of economic expertise. It argues that many of the economic formations in everyday life come from work cultures of science, technology, and engineering that dictate forms of economic activity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 15 June 2021
Publisher: Stanford University Press

Electricity, a peculiar commodity, often presents challenges in terms of storage, transportation, and importation from foreign regions. Before it illuminates our homes, it undergoes a transformation through specialized electricity markets, where engineering expertise plays a pivotal role in facilitating competitive trading while adhering to the physical constraints of the electric grid.

The Current Economy, an ethnographic exploration of electricity markets in the United States, unveils the diverse and technologically intricate nature of economic expertise in contemporary society. Drawing from extensive fieldwork among market data analysts, electric grid engineers, and citizen activists, this book offers a comprehensive delve into the intricate economy of electricity and its far-reaching implications in everyday life.

Canay Özden-Schilling posits that a significant portion of economic formations in our daily lives originate from work cultures that are seldom recognized for their economic contributions. These cultures, encompassing science, technology, and engineering, often lack a formal claim to economic theory or practice, yet they exert profound influence over economic activities. This book contributes to the fields of economic anthropology, science and technology studies, energy studies, and the anthropology of expertise, providing a comprehensive map of the everyday infrastructures of economy and energy into which we are seamlessly integrated as inhabitants of a technologically driven world.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503612273