The Coal Question

E530104

The Coal Question is an influential 1865 treatise by economist William Stanley Jevons that examines the economic and environmental implications of Britain's dependence on coal and introduces what later became known as the Jevons paradox.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
The Coal Question canonical 1

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf book
economic treatise
author William Stanley Jevons NERFINISHED
centralArgument Britain’s economic supremacy depended critically on cheap coal
Exhaustion or rising cost of coal would undermine British industrial power
Increased efficiency in coal use can lead to increased total coal consumption
countryOfOrigin United Kingdom
discusses coal mining
iron industry
limits to growth
population growth
railways
steam power
firstEditionPlaceOfPublication London NERFINISHED
genre non-fiction
hasPart chapters on coal consumption
chapters on coal supply
chapters on national policy
chapters on technological improvement
historicalSignificance early systematic analysis of energy and economic growth
foundational work for the concept later called the Jevons paradox
important contribution to Victorian debates on resource exhaustion
influenced debates on peak resources
energy economics
environmental economics
sustainability discourse
language English
notableConcept Jevons paradox NERFINISHED
proposes that policy cannot easily offset the rebound from efficiency gains
publicationYear 1865
publisher Macmillan and Co. NERFINISHED
relatedConcept energy efficiency
peak coal
rebound effect
resource scarcity
relatedWork The Theory of Political Economy NERFINISHED
subject British economy
coal
economic growth
energy economics
environmental impact of coal
industrialization
resource depletion
sustainability
technological efficiency
timePeriodDiscussed 19th-century Britain
warnsAbout economic risks of overreliance on a single energy source
long-term scarcity of coal

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

William Stanley Jevons notableWork The Coal Question