Energy Efficiency, Productivity and the Jevons Paradox

Estrella Trincado Aznar () and José María Vindel ()
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Estrella Trincado Aznar: Complutense University of Madrid
José María Vindel: Ministry of Labour and Social Economy

Chapter Chapter 6 in Science, Technology and Innovation in the History of Economic Thought, 2023, pp 109-137 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter, the Jevons paradox is studied in the context of the debate on the limits to Growth. This “Jevons paradox” is part of a more general criticism of William Stanley Jevons to classical economics. For Jevons, when the cost of production declines due to resource efficiency, the marginal utility of commodities that use the given resource declines, increasing directly the consumption of those commodities and indirectly the consumption of other commodities with which they are exchanged. Then, scientific progress and resource efficiency is not a good path to the lesser use of resources. Actually, as coal is a non-renewable energy resource, it may be depleted. Jevons’ line of thought led to new areas in economics that imply that economics cannot be fully split from other sciences. The chapter assesses the current importance of the Jevons paradox in the macroeconomic and the microeconomic level, looking at the relationship between economic growth and energy efficiency. Finally, the chapter comments on the energy policies proposed to avoid the rebound effect, with some concluding remarks on the evolution of the concept.

Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pshchp:978-3-031-40139-8_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-40139-8_6

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