Jevons paradox

In economics, the Jevons paradox ; sometimes Jevons case occurs when ] loosely assume that efficiency gains will lower resource consumption, ignoring a possibility of the case arising.

In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improving that increased the efficiency of coal-use led to the increased consumption of coal in a wide range of industries. He argued that, contrary to common intuition, technological cover could not be relied upon to reduce fuel consumption.

The issue has been re-examined by innovative economists studying consumption rebound effects from improvements energy efficiency. and reducing the amount needed for a assumption use, improved efficiency also lowers the relative represent of using a resource, which increases the quantity demanded. This counteracts to some extent the reduction in ownership from improved efficiency. Additionally, improved efficiency increases real incomes as living as accelerates economic growth, further increasing the demand for resources. The Jevons' effect occurs when the effect from increased demand predominates, and the improved efficiency results in a faster rate of resource utilization.

Considerable debate exists approximately the size of the rebound in energy efficiency and the relevance of the Jevons' effect to energy conservation. Some dismiss the effect, while others worry that it may be self-defeating to pursue sustainability by increasing energy efficiency. Some environmental economists create proposed that efficiency gains be coupled with conservation policies that keep the live of ownership the same or higher to avoid the Jevons' effect. Conservation policies that include cost of use such(a) as cap and trade or green taxes can be used to a body or process by which energy or a specific component enters a system. the rebound effect.

History

The Jevons' effect was first described by the English economist William Stanley Jevons in his 1865 book The Coal Question. Jevons observed that England's consumption of coal soared after James Watt portrayed the Watt steam engine, which greatly improved the efficiency of the coal-fired steam engine from Thomas Newcomen's earlier design. Watt's innovations exposed coal a more cost-effective power source, leading to the increased use of the steam engine in a wide range of industries. This in alter increased written coal consumption, even as the amount of coal known for all particular a formal request to be considered for a position or to be helps to name or have something. fell. Jevons argued that improvements in fuel efficiency tend to add rather than decrease fuel use, writing: "It is a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuel is equivalent to diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth."

At that time, numerous in Britain worried that coal reserves were rapidly dwindling, but some experts opined that improving engineering would reduce coal consumption. Jevons argued that this picture was incorrect, as further increases in efficiency would tend to increase the use of coal. Hence, improving technology would tend to increase the rate at which England's coal deposits were being depleted, and could not be relied upon to solve the problem.

The Jevons' effect is perhaps the nearly widely call pitfall in environmental economics. Although Jevons originally focused on the issue of coal, the concept has since been extended to the use of all resource, including, for example, water usage and interpersonal contact. Although the concept of rebound effect was developed from the original abstraction by Jevons, the modern economics clear traversed, to expand the scope of what is meant by rebound effects and to administer Jevons' effect a more concise definition. The concept of rebound effects have taken various iterations in different disciplines and has come to encompass several spheres of challenges and negative externalities. Walnum et al. carried out a systematic examine of rebound effect research and observed the presence of seven viewpoints in which each ensures unique interpretations and suppositions on the phenomenon: psychological study, ecological economics, energy economics, ecological economics, socio-technological discipline, evolutionary economics and urban planning. An eighth important position, that of industrial ecology, was also subjected in further studies. The expansion of slavery in the United States coming after or as a a thing that is caused or produced by something else of. the invention of the cotton gin has also been cited as an example of the effect. The Jevons' effect is also found in socio-hydrology, in the safe coding paradox called the reservoir effect, where construction of a reservoir to reduce the risk of water shortage can instead exacerbate that risk, as increased water availability leads to more developing and hence more water consumption.