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The Material Intensity of Growth: Implications from the Human Scale of Production

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  • Kostas Bithas

    (Michigan State University
    Panteion University of Athens)

  • Panos Kalimeris

    (Panteion University of Athens
    International Hellenic University, University Campus)

Abstract

Contemporary empirical studies on the resource intensity of the economic process provide evidence of a gradual de-linking between natural resources use and economic growth. Resource intensity is evaluated through the Domestic Material Consumption/Gross Domestic Product (DMC/GDP) ratio, defined as the material intensity index. Trajectories of this ratio support the optimistic view that economic output is becoming progressively less dependent on resource flows, hence GDP is gradually dematerialized. The present study asserts that the DMC/GDP indicator fails to take into account the biophysical properties of the production process which define the resource requirements of the economy. The present study proposes the “resources required for producing one unit of GDP per Capita (Income)”, as an alternative indicator for evaluating the resource requirements of the economy. The resource requirement, evaluated at the level of income, approximates the human scale of production; goods should embody certain biophysical properties in order to satisfy human needs. The trajectories of DMC/Income index for global growth rejects the vision of a dematerialized growth and the de-linkage of the economy from natural resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Kostas Bithas & Panos Kalimeris, 2017. "The Material Intensity of Growth: Implications from the Human Scale of Production," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 1011-1029, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:133:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1401-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1401-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Dzhumashev, Ratbek, 2024. "The role of physical constraints on production," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    2. Kalimeris, Panos & Bithas, Kostas & Richardson, Clive & Nijkamp, Peter, 2020. "Hidden linkages between resources and economy: A “Beyond-GDP” approach using alternative welfare indicators," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    3. Lance Newey & Rui Torres Oliveira, 2019. "Wellbeing as Emergent from the Leveraging of Polarities: Harnessing Component Interdependencies," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 575-600, July.
    4. K. Bithas & P. Kalimeris, 2018. "Matter Matters: Reconsidering the (De)materialization of a Hundred Years of Growth," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-10, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Decoupling; Dematerialization; Natural resources scarcity; Economic development; Sustainable development; DMC/Income;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics

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