IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/streco/v58y2021icp54-65.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy, productivity and structural growth. The last two centuries

Author

Listed:
  • Malanima, Paolo

Abstract

Our knowledge of energy consumption over the past two centuries is still superficial. The available energy databases cover, at best, the years from the 1960s. Furthermore, we know little on the consumption of traditional sources; still in use in developing countries. The consequence is that the modern “energy transition” and its impact on the economy is still poorly known. The purpose of the present contribution is twofold. It aims at: 1. filling this gap, through the analysis of the main transformations which have occurred since 1820 in global energy consumption; 2. focusing on the changes in the relative energy-GDP developments due to the exploitation of fossil energy sources on the one hand and energy-saving technology on the other.

Suggested Citation

  • Malanima, Paolo, 2021. "Energy, productivity and structural growth. The last two centuries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 54-65.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:streco:v:58:y:2021:i:c:p:54-65
    DOI: 10.1016/j.strueco.2021.04.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X21000370
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.strueco.2021.04.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Robert U. Ayres & Benjamin Warr, 2009. "The Economic Growth Engine," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13324.
    2. Christian MORRISSON & Fabrice MURTIN, 2011. "Average income inequality between countries (1700-2030)," Working Papers P25, FERDI.
    3. Voigt, Sebastian & De Cian, Enrica & Schymura, Michael & Verdolini, Elena, 2014. "Energy intensity developments in 40 major economies: Structural change or technology improvement?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 47-62.
    4. Zsuzsanna Csereklyei, M. d. Mar Rubio-Varas, and David I. Stern, 2016. "Energy and Economic Growth: The Stylized Facts," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    5. Ayres, Robert U. & Turton, Hal & Casten, Tom, 2007. "Energy efficiency, sustainability and economic growth," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 634-648.
    6. Kenneth B. Medlock III & Ronald Soligo, 2001. "Economic Development and End-Use Energy Demand," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2), pages 77-105.
    7. Ayres, Robert U & Ayres, Leslie W & Warr, Benjamin, 2003. "Exergy, power and work in the US economy, 1900–1998," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 219-273.
    8. Paolo Malanima, 2020. "The limiting factor: energy, growth, and divergence, 1820–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(2), pages 486-512, May.
    9. Roger Fouquet, 2008. "Heat, Power and Light," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4061.
    10. Gales, Ben & Kander, Astrid & Malanima, Paolo & Rubio, Mar, 2007. "North versus South: Energy transition and energy intensity in Europe over 200 years," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 219-253, August.
    11. Deichmann,Uwe & Reuter,Anna & Vollmer,Sebastian & Zhang,Fan, 2018. "Relationship between energy intensity and economic growth : new evidence from a multi-country multi-sector data set," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8322, The World Bank.
    12. James E. Payne, 2010. "Survey of the international evidence on the causal relationship between energy consumption and growth," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 53-95, January.
    13. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Strulik, Holger, 2011. "Energy distribution and economic growth," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 782-797.
    14. Wrigley,E. A., 2016. "The Path to Sustained Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316504284, November.
    15. M. d. MAR RUBIO & CÉSAR YÁÑEZ & MAURICIO FOLCHI & ALBERT CARRERAS, 2010. "Energy as an indicator of modernization in Latin America, 1890–1925," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(3), pages 769-804, August.
    16. Wrigley,E. A., 2016. "The Path to Sustained Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107135710, November.
    17. Ang, B. W., 1987. "A cross-sectional analysis of energy--output correlation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 274-286, October.
    18. Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2008. "An Empirical Analysis of Energy Intensity and Its Determinants at the State Level," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 1-26.
    19. Roger Fouquet & Peter J. G. Pearson, 1998. "A Thousand Years of Energy Use in the United Kingdom," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 1-41.
    20. Kander, Astrid, 2005. "Baumol's disease and dematerialization of the economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 119-130, October.
    21. Astrid Kander & Paolo Malanima & Paul Warde, 2013. "Power to the People: Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10138.
    22. Qiaosheng Wu & Svetlana Maslyuk, 2012. "Energy Consumption Inequality and Human Development," Chapters, in: Zoran Morvaj (ed.), Energy Efficiency - A Bridge to Low Carbon Economy, IntechOpen.
    23. Paolo Malanima, 2016. "Energy consumption in England and Italy, 1560–1913. Two pathways toward energy transition," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 78-103, February.
    24. William Alonso, 1980. "Five Bell Shapes In Development," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 5-16, January.
    25. Ayres, Robert U. & Warr, Benjamin, 2005. "Accounting for growth: the role of physical work," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 181-209, June.
    26. Zilberfarb, Ben-Zion & Adams, F. Gerard, 1981. "The energy-GDP relationship in developing countries : Empirical evidence and stability tests," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 244-248, October.
    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. Tomasz Grodzicki, 2024. "Disparities in Energy Productivity across the EU Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 14(3), pages 87-92, May.
    2. Miriam Fritzsche & Nikolaus Wolf, 2022. "Fickle Fossils. Economic Growth, Coal and the European Oil Invasion 1900-2015," Working Papers 029, The Productivity Institute.
    3. Malanima, Paolo, 2024. "International inequality in energy use and CO2 emissions (1820–2020)," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 233-244.

    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. Paolo Malanima, 2020. "The limiting factor: energy, growth, and divergence, 1820–1913," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(2), pages 486-512, May.
    2. Agovino, Massimiliano & Bartoletto, Silvana & Garofalo, Antonio, 2019. "Modelling the relationship between energy intensity and GDP for European countries: An historical perspective (1800–2000)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 114-134.
    3. Sousa, Tânia & Brockway, Paul E. & Cullen, Jonathan M. & Henriques, Sofia Teives & Miller, Jack & Serrenho, André Cabrera & Domingos, Tiago, 2017. "The Need for Robust, Consistent Methods in Societal Exergy Accounting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 11-21.
    4. Kander, Astrid & Warde, Paul & Teives Henriques, Sofia & Nielsen, Hana & Kulionis, Viktoras & Hagen, Sven, 2017. "International Trade and Energy Intensity During European Industrialization, 1870–1935," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 33-44.
    5. Zsuzsanna Csereklyei & M. d. Mar Rubio-Varas & David I. Stern, 2016. "Energy and Economic Growth: The Stylized Facts," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(2), pages 223-256, April.
    6. Emmanuel Bovari & Victor Court, 2019. "Energy, knowledge, and demo-economic development in the long run: a unified growth model," Working Papers hal-01698755, HAL.
    7. Fouquet, Roger, 2016. "Lessons from energy history for climate policy: technological change, demand and economic development," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67785, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Victor Court, 2018. "Energy Capture, Technological Change, and Economic Growth: An Evolutionary Perspective," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 1-27, September.
    9. David I. Stern, 2010. "The Role of Energy in Economic Growth," CCEP Working Papers 0310, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    10. Kander, Astrid & Stern, David I., 2014. "Economic growth and the transition from traditional to modern energy in Sweden," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-65.
    11. Wouter Ryckbosch & Wout Saelens, 2023. "Fuelling the urban economy: A comparative study of energy in the Low Countries, 1600–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(1), pages 221-256, February.
    12. Fotis, Panagiotis & Karkalakos, Sotiris & Asteriou, Dimitrios, 2017. "The relationship between energy demand and real GDP growth rate: The role of price asymmetries and spatial externalities within 34 countries across the globe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 69-84.
    13. Claudiu Cicea & Carmen Nadia Ciocoiu & Corina Marinescu, 2021. "Exploring the Research Regarding Energy–Economic Growth Relationship," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, May.
    14. van de Ven, Dirk Jan & Fouquet, Roger, 2017. "Historical energy price shocks and their changing effects on the economy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 204-216.
    15. Fischer-Kowalski, Marina & Rovenskaya, Elena & Krausmann, Fridolin & Pallua, Irene & Mc Neill, John R., 2019. "Energy transitions and social revolutions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 69-77.
    16. Malanima, Paolo, 2024. "International inequality in energy use and CO2 emissions (1820–2020)," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 233-244.
    17. Roger Fouquet, 2015. "Lessons from energy history for climate policy," GRI Working Papers 209, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    18. Ravshonbek Otojanov & Roger Fouquet & Brigitte Granville, 2023. "Factor prices and induced technical change in the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 599-623, May.
    19. Kennedy, Christopher, 2022. "Capital, energy and carbon in the United States economy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    20. Christopher Kennedy, 2020. "Energy and capital," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(5), pages 1047-1058, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy; natural capital; structural growth; productivity; convergence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N5 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries
    • N7 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:streco:v:58:y:2021:i:c:p:54-65. 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/inca/525148 .

    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.