IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v68y2009i4p1213-1225.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring fossil resource inequality--A case study for the UK between 1968 and 2000

Author

Listed:
  • Papathanasopoulou, Eleni
  • Jackson, Tim

Abstract

This paper quantifies fossil resource inequalities amongst income quintiles in the UK between 1968 and 2000. It calculates a resource-based Gini coefficient using an input-output based resource allocation model. The results show that the Gini coefficient for total fossil resource consumption grew by 24% over the time period. By comparison the Gini coefficient for overall household expenditure rose by only 13%. The increase in resource inequality was prompted by the rising demand by high income quintiles for goods and services such as: "fuel and light" (heating and lighting the home), "car use" (private transportation), "recreation", "travel" and "other services". The analysis shows further that the Gini coefficient for "direct" fossil resources ("fuel and light" and "car use") was lower and rose less steeply than the Gini coefficient for fossil resources embodied in other goods and services (indirect fossil resource requirements). Investigation into the drivers behind direct and indirect resource inequalities suggests a number of policy conclusions. Firstly, it is clear that policy initiatives to reduce fossil resource requirements (and the associated climate change impacts) must pay careful attention to distributional differences. Additionally, increased attention needs to be paid to the inequalities associated with indirect fossil resources consumption as well as the more visible direct resource inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Papathanasopoulou, Eleni & Jackson, Tim, 2009. "Measuring fossil resource inequality--A case study for the UK between 1968 and 2000," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1213-1225, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:68:y:2009:i:4:p:1213-1225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921-8009(08)00388-1
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stymne, Susanna & Jackson, Tim, 2000. "Intra-generational equity and sustainable welfare: a time series analysis for the UK and Sweden," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 219-236, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anderson, Blake & M'Gonigle, Michael, 2012. "Does ecological economics have a future?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 37-48.
    2. Danny Ben-Shahar & Jacob Warszawski, 2016. "Inequality in housing affordability: Measurement and estimation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(6), pages 1178-1202, May.
    3. Ouyang, Jinlong & Long, Enshen & Hokao, Kazunori, 2010. "Rebound effect in Chinese household energy efficiency and solution for mitigating it," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 5269-5276.
    4. Sager, Lutz, 2019. "Income inequality and carbon consumption: Evidence from Environmental Engel curves," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    5. Zhaojun Wang & Amanda M. Countryman & James J. Corbett & Mandana Saebi, 2021. "Economic and environmental impacts of ballast water management on Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries," Papers 2108.13315, arXiv.org.
    6. Ben-Shahar, Danny & Gabriel, Stuart & Golan, Roni, 2020. "Can't get there from here: Affordability distance to a superstar city," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Beiser-McGrath, Liam & Busemeyer, Marius R., 2023. "Carbon inequality and support for carbon taxation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120925, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Chancel, Lucas, 2014. "Are younger generations higher carbon emitters than their elders?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 195-207.
    9. Steinberger, Julia K. & Krausmann, Fridolin & Eisenmenger, Nina, 2010. "Global patterns of materials use: A socioeconomic and geophysical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1148-1158, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. White, Thomas J., 2007. "Sharing resources: The global distribution of the Ecological Footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 402-410, December.
    2. Paulius Yamin & Luis Artavia-Mora & Benita Martunaite & Shaon Lahiri, 2023. "Installations for Civic Culture: Behavioral Policy Interventions to Promote Social Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Druckman, A. & Jackson, T., 2008. "Measuring resource inequalities: The concepts and methodology for an area-based Gini coefficient," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 242-252, April.
    4. Glazyrina, I. & Zabelina, I. & Klevakina, E., 2010. "Economic Development and Environmental Impact Disparities among Russia's Regions," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 7, pages 70-88.
    5. Laura Calzada-Infante & Ana María López-Narbona & Alberto Núñez-Elvira & Javier Orozco-Messana, 2020. "Assessing the Efficiency of Sustainable Cities Using an Empirical Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Tanushri Kamble & Sarika Bahadure, 2020. "Neighborhood sustainability assessment in developed and developing countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(6), pages 4955-4977, August.
    7. Maack, Maria & Davidsdottir, Brynhildur, 2015. "Five capital impact assessment: Appraisal framework based on theory of sustainable well-being," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1338-1351.
    8. Jackson, Tim & Victor, Peter A., 2016. "Does slow growth lead to rising inequality? Some theoretical reflections and numerical simulations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 206-219.
    9. Jonas Slycken & Brent Bleys, 2023. "Towards ISEW and GPI 2.0: Dealing with Cross-Time and Cross-Boundary Issues in a Case Study for Belgium," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 557-583, August.
    10. Drupp, Moritz A. & Baumgärtner, Stefan & Meyer, Moritz & Quaas, Martin F. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2020. "Between Ostrom and Nordhaus: The research landscape of sustainability economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    11. Yosef Jabareen, 2012. "Towards a Sustainability Education Framework: Challenges, Concepts and Strategies—The Contribution from Urban Planning Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-23, September.
    12. Kubiszewski, Ida & Costanza, Robert & Franco, Carol & Lawn, Philip & Talberth, John & Jackson, Tim & Aylmer, Camille, 2013. "Beyond GDP: Measuring and achieving global genuine progress," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 57-68.
    13. Long, Xianling & Ji, Xi, 2019. "Economic Growth Quality, Environmental Sustainability, and Social Welfare in China - Provincial Assessment Based on Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 157-176.
    14. Jackson, Tim, 2002. "Evolutionary psychology in ecological economics: consilience, consumption and contentment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 289-303, May.
    15. Efrat Eizenberg & Yosef Jabareen, 2017. "Social Sustainability: A New Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, January.
    16. Jonas Van der Slycken & Brent Bleys, 2020. "Cost-shifting Versus “Full” Accountability: Dealing with Cross-time and Cross-boundary Issues in the ISEW and GPI. An application to Belgium," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 20/1003, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    17. Kenny, Daniel C. & Costanza, Robert & Dowsley, Tom & Jackson, Nichelle & Josol, Jairus & Kubiszewski, Ida & Narulla, Harkiran & Sese, Saioa & Sutanto, Anna & Thompson, Jonathan, 2019. "Australia's Genuine Progress Indicator Revisited (1962–2013)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1-10.
    18. Max Munday & Annette Roberts, 2006. "Developing approaches to measuring and monitoring sustainable development in Wales: A review," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 535-554.
    19. Yosef Jabareen, 2008. "A New Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Development," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 179-192, April.
    20. Howarth, Richard B. & Kennedy, Kevin, 2016. "Economic growth, inequality, and well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 231-236.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:68:y:2009:i:4:p:1213-1225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.