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Bigger cakes with fewer ingredients? A comparison of material use of the world economy

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  • Pothen, Frank
  • Schymura, Michael

Abstract

The amount of materials used worldwide in production and consumption increased by 56% from 1995 to 2008. Using an index decomposition analysis based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index, we investigate the drivers of material use, both on a global and a country scale. We exploit a panel dataset of 40 countries, accounting for 75% of worldwide material extraction and 88% of GDP, from 1995 to 2008. The results show that economic growth and structural change towards material-intensive countries explain most of the growth in global material use. Slight gains in material efficiency and falling importance of material-intensive sectors have decelerating effects. The country-level analysis reveals substantial heterogeneity. Some nations exhibit stable or falling material use, while it increases notably in most countries. Improving material efficiency is able to dampen growth of material use in important industrializing nations like China or India.

Suggested Citation

  • Pothen, Frank & Schymura, Michael, 2015. "Bigger cakes with fewer ingredients? A comparison of material use of the world economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 109-121.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:109:y:2015:i:c:p:109-121
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.10.009
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Material use; Index decomposition analysis; Economic growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q0 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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