How can we compare economic relations to inter-species relations in biology? (money, benefits)

[MalaMan]

In biology, there are some different kinds of relations between species.


For example:


Mutualism is the way two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual benefits from the activity of the other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_%28biology%29



Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between two different biological species.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis



In ecosystem predation is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predation



In biology/ecology, parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitism



How can we compare economic relations to those inter-species relations in biology?

For example: in the economic relations between different countries, can we trace any parallels to those kinds of inter-species relations?

[MalaMan]

For example: can we say that the relation between the European powers and the African continent between 1850 and 1960 was a relation of predation?

And could we say that the relation that China is trying to develop now with the African continent is a relation of mutualism, or even symbiosis?

[509]

I went to a Forestry school where it was either economics or ecology as your specialization.

Anyway, some great quotes from the professors about the relationship between the two.

"Economics is the ecology of money".

My personal observations that energy flows in ecological systems are similar to money flows in commerce.

If you look at population dynamics and plot some of those graphs...they tend to mimic speculations or other economic events.

Which if you think about it makes sense....humans are still creatures of nature, though, we deny it. So why would not our economic systems reflect this basic fact.