Jevons paradox
E530102
Jevons paradox is an economic observation that increased efficiency in using a resource can lead to higher overall consumption of that resource rather than a reduction.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
economic concept
ⓘ
paradox ⓘ rebound effect ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
electricity consumption
ⓘ
energy consumption ⓘ fossil fuel consumption ⓘ raw material use ⓘ transportation fuel use ⓘ water use ⓘ |
| assumes | price elasticity of demand for the resource is significant ⓘ |
| category |
economic paradox
ⓘ
environmental paradox ⓘ |
| clarification |
does not say efficiency must increase consumption in every case
ⓘ
requires sufficiently strong rebound for total consumption to rise above baseline ⓘ |
| concerns | aggregate or economy-wide resource use ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | engineering expectations of reduced consumption from efficiency ⓘ |
| coreIdea |
efficiency improvements can lower effective cost of resource use and stimulate demand
ⓘ
increased efficiency in using a resource can lead to higher total consumption of that resource ⓘ technological progress can increase, rather than decrease, aggregate resource use ⓘ |
| debatedIn |
climate policy discussions
ⓘ
sustainable development debates ⓘ |
| describes | relationship between efficiency and resource consumption ⓘ |
| field |
economics
ⓘ
energy economics ⓘ environmental economics ⓘ resource economics ⓘ |
| firstDiscussedIn | The Coal Question NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| firstDiscussedYear | 1865 ⓘ |
| firstFormulatedBy | William Stanley Jevons NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| historicalExample | coal consumption in 19th century Britain ⓘ |
| implication |
climate and energy policy may require caps or pricing in addition to efficiency
ⓘ
efficiency policies alone may not reduce total resource use ⓘ technological efficiency gains can undermine conservation goals if demand is unconstrained ⓘ |
| influences |
arguments about limits to growth
ⓘ
debates on decoupling economic growth from emissions ⓘ design of energy efficiency policies ⓘ |
| mechanism |
economic growth enabled by efficiency increases total scale of activity
ⓘ
efficiency lowers effective price per unit of service ⓘ lower effective price increases demand for the service ⓘ |
| namedAfter | William Stanley Jevons NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| oftenMisinterpretedAs | claim that efficiency is always bad ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
backfire effect
ⓘ
decoupling of growth and resource use ⓘ demand elasticity ⓘ energy efficiency ⓘ green growth ⓘ induced demand ⓘ rebound effect ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.