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Energy, Development, and the Environment: An Appraisal Three Decades After the "Limits to Growth" Debate

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  • Giovanni Dosi
  • Marco Grazzi

Abstract

This work builds upon some long-term secular regularities concerning the relation between consumption of energy, technological progress and economic growth and reassesses the old question raised around forty years ago in the "limits to growth" discussion (Meadows et al. [1972]), namely are the current patterns of development and in particular the current patterns of energy use environmentally sustainable? The questions we shall address are the following. First, the environmental sustainability of patterns of energy consumption that for long have implied the notion of the environment as a free good, without any negative social externalities and even less so any environmental threat. Second, the importance - and limits - of relative price changes with respect to the dynamics of consumption of energy. Third, the role of fundamental discontinuities between different "technological paradigms".

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Dosi & Marco Grazzi, 2006. "Energy, Development, and the Environment: An Appraisal Three Decades After the "Limits to Growth" Debate," LEM Papers Series 2006/15, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2006/15
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    2. Epicoco, Marianna, 2016. "Patterns of innovation and organizational demography in emerging sustainable fields: An analysis of the chemical sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 427-441.
    3. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5qr7f0k4sk8rbq4do5u6v70rm0 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Vanessa Oltra, 2008. "Environmental innovation and industrial dynamics: the contributions of evolutionary economics," Post-Print hal-00391493, HAL.
    5. Jean Christophe Graz & Michel Damian & Mehdi Abbas, 2007. "Towards an evolutionary environmental regulation of capitalism : sustainable development 20 years after," Post-Print halshs-00369962, HAL.
    6. Chassagnon, Virgile & Haned, Naciba, 2015. "The relevance of innovation leadership for environmental benefits: A firm-level empirical analysis on French firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 194-207.
    7. You, Jing, 2011. "China's energy consumption and sustainable development: Comparative evidence from GDP and genuine savings," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 2984-2989, August.
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/1nlv566svi86iqtetenms15tc4 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Marianne Haug, 2011. "Clean energy and international oil," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 27(1), pages 92-116, Spring.
    10. Silvano Cincotti & Wolfram Elsner & Nathalie Lazaric & Anastasia Nesvetailova & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2020. "Towards an evolutionary political economy. Editorial to the inaugural issue of the Review of Evolutionary Political Economy REPE," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-12, May.
    11. Franco Ruzzenenti & Andreas A. Papandreou, 2015. "Effects of fossil fuel prices on the transition to a low-carbon economy," Working papers wpaper89, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    12. Vanessa OLTRA & Maïder SAINT JEAN, 2009. "Environmental Innovations and Industrial Dynamics (In French)," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2009-22, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    13. Nathalie Lazaric & Kevin Maréchal, 2010. "Overcoming inertia: insights from evolutionary economics into improved energy and climate policy," Post-Print hal-00452205, HAL.
    14. Benoît Desmarchelier & Faïz Gallouj, 2010. "Endogenous growth and environmental policy: are the processes of growth and tertiarisation in developed economies reversible? An evolutionary perspective," Working Papers hal-01111789, HAL.
    15. Kevin Marechal & Nathalie Lazaric, 2010. "Overcoming inertia: insights from evolutionary economics into improved energy and climate policies," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 103-119, January.

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    Energy Consumption; Emissions; Sustainability;
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