Integration of economics into engineering with an application to the recycling market

This paper describes integration of recent economics concepts into engineering. Direct and indirect effects of new technology on its users and society depend on the economic system in which it operates. They can be formulated and analyzed by experimental economics, computational economics and the market microstructure theory, which have all emerged recently in economics. We describe how such integration can be done both in general and with an example: a recycling economy model. An integrated approach of engineering and economics that treats human behavior, market structure and technology on an empirical and theoretical basis makes it possible to describe a process whereby used product units are collected from consumers for reuse.