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Are We Seeing Dematerialization of World GDP?

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  • Rögnvaldur Hannesson

    (Norwegian School of Economics)

Abstract

Production of commodities and industrial products typically declines in relative terms as countries get richer. Does this mean that economic growth will become dematerialized and take place without being accompanied by a rise in the use of materials? Do we see signs of this already happening? We look at the production of cement and thirteen minerals 1960–2019 and find no evidence of dematerialization. Production of cement and eight minerals has grown more rapidly than world GDP and that of three minerals more rapidly than world population. Extraction of most minerals has accelerated rather than stagnated since the turn of the century.

Suggested Citation

  • Rögnvaldur Hannesson, 2021. "Are We Seeing Dematerialization of World GDP?," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 1-6, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:bioerq:v:6:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s41247-021-00086-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s41247-021-00086-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fix, Blair, 2019. "Dematerialization Through Services: Evaluating the Evidence," SocArXiv bw5gm, Center for Open Science.
    2. Bernd Meyer & Mark Meyer & Martin Distelkamp, 2012. "Modeling green growth and resource efficiency: new results," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 24(2), pages 145-154, June.
    3. Blair Fix, 2019. "Dematerialization Through Services: Evaluating the Evidence," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 1-17, June.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Naudé, Wim, 2023. "We Already Live in a Degrowth World, and We Do Not like It," IZA Discussion Papers 16191, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mineral production; GDP; Economic growth; Dematerialization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development

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