Dematerialization and Transmaterialization: What Have We Learned?

Walter Labys
Additional contact information
Walter Labys: Division of Resource Management, West Virginia University

Working Papers from Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University

Abstract: Long-term materials demand patterns are important to examine because of the possibility of material obsolescence as well as the long lead times required to create new mineral productive capacity. Since structural changes in materials demand are inevitably linked to the performance and adjustments of national economies, materials life cycles have often been examined in the context of intensity of use (IOU). Explanations of these structural changes have focused on dematerialization; this concept implies a structural change in an economy embodying a reduced demand for materials and, therefore, a decline in overall industrial growth. An alternative view is that of transmaterialization, which implies a recurring industrial transformation in the way that economic societies use materials, a process that has occurred regularly or cyclically throughout history. These patterns vary notably across regions. The purpose of this paper is to explore more recent developments in the analysis of these concepts and to provide new directions for future applications.

Keywords: Intensity of Use; Dematerialization; Transmaterialization; Materials Demands; Materials Life-Cycles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C53 Q31 Q32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/rri_pubs/132/ (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rri:wpaper:2004wp01

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Randall Jackson ().