IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/minecn/v31y2018i1d10.1007_s13563-017-0113-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intensity of use reexamined

Author

Listed:
  • Phillip Crowson

    (University of Dundee)

Abstract

The intensity of use hypothesis is widely used both as an explanation of trends in materials consumption over time and as a predictive tool. The paper examines significant weaknesses in the data normally used to test the hypothesis. An examination of long-term trends in the intensity of apparent first use of aluminium, copper and steel in eight countries shows a tendency for usage per unit of GDP to follow an inverted U shape as per capita GDP increases. Cross country comparisons for individual years do not demonstrate such a relationship. Apparent first uses are not always good guides to actual consumption, and the weaknesses in the data are discussed. Per capita GDP is only one influence on materials usage, and the paper looks at other factors, and most notably at the structure of both output and expenditure. China’s intensity of use appears anomalous, raising questions about future trends in its materials usage. Avenues for future research are outlined.

Suggested Citation

  • Phillip Crowson, 2018. "Intensity of use reexamined," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 31(1), pages 61-70, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:minecn:v:31:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s13563-017-0113-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s13563-017-0113-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13563-017-0113-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13563-017-0113-z?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. Antonio Focacci, 2005. "Empirical relationship between total consumption-GDP ratio and per capita income for different metals of a series of industrialised nations," International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(4), pages 347-377.
    2. World Bank, 2017. "World Development Indicators 2017," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 26447.
    3. Ignacio Guzman, Juan & Nishiyama, Takashi & Tilton, John E., 2005. "Trends in the intensity of copper use in Japan since 1960," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 21-27, March.
    4. Jaunky, Vishal Chandr, 2012. "Is there a material Kuznets curve for aluminium? evidence from rich countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 296-307.
    5. Canas, Angela & Ferrao, Paulo & Conceicao, Pedro, 2003. "A new environmental Kuznets curve? Relationship between direct material input and income per capita: evidence from industrialised countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 217-229, September.
    6. Roberts, Mark C., 1996. "Metal use and the world economy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 183-196, September.
    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. Mariia Ostapchuk & Claire Auplat & Pierre Boucard, 2023. "Economic Growth and Scientific Knowledge as Determinants of Innovation Uptake in a Situation of Uncertainty About Environmental or Health Risk," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1602-1634, June.
    2. Kym Anderson & Sundar Ponnusamy, 2019. "Structural Transformation to Manufacturing and Services: What Role for Trade?," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 36(2), pages 32-71, September.
    3. Friedrich-W. Wellmer & Marius Kern, 2024. "The dynamics and long-term availability of the total resources from the geosphere and technosphere—re-examined," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 37(2), pages 227-244, June.
    4. Zauresh Atakhanova & Peter Howie, 2020. "Metal intensity of use in the era of global value chains," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 33(1), pages 101-113, July.
    5. Naoki Sekiguchi, 2019. "Steel trade structure and the balance of steelmaking technologies in non-OECD countries: the implications for catch-up path," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 32(3), pages 257-285, November.
    6. He, Ruifang & Zhong, Meirui & Huang, Jianbai, 2021. "Technological progress and metal resource consumption in the electricity industry—A cross-country panel threshold data analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    7. Baffes,John & Kabundi,Alain Ntumba & Nagle,Peter Stephen Oliver & Ohnsorge,Franziska Lieselotte, 2018. "The role of major emerging markets in global commodity demand," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8495, The World Bank.

    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. Wårell, Linda, 2014. "Trends and developments in long-term steel demand – The intensity-of-use hypothesis revisited," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 134-143.
    2. Crompton, Paul, 2015. "Explaining variation in steel consumption in the OECD," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 239-246.
    3. Harimukti Wandebori & Murtyastanto, 2023. "The Implication of Steel-Intensity-of-Use on Economic Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Kassouri, Yacouba & Alola, Andrew Adewale & Savaş, Savaş, 2021. "The dynamics of material consumption in phases of the economic cycle for selected emerging countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. John Baffes & Alain Kabundi & Peter Nagle, 2022. "The role of income and substitution in commodity demand [Modelling OECD industrial energy demand: asymmetric price responses and energy-saving technical change]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(2), pages 498-522.
    6. Jaunky, Vishal Chandr, 2012. "Is there a material Kuznets curve for aluminium? evidence from rich countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 296-307.
    7. Leitão, João & Ferreira, Joaquim & Santibanez-González, Ernesto, 2022. "New insights into decoupling economic growth, technological progress and carbon dioxide emissions: Evidence from 40 countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    8. Pothen, Frank & Welsch, Heinz, 2019. "Economic development and material use. Evidence from international panel data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 107-119.
    9. Dorothée Charlier & Florian Fizaine, 2020. "Does Becoming Richer Lead to a Reduction in Natural Resource Consumption? An Empirical Refutation of the Kuznets Material Curve," Working Papers 2020.05, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    10. Razzaq, Asif & Ajaz, Tahseen & Li, Jing Claire & Irfan, Muhammad & Suksatan, Wanich, 2021. "Investigating the asymmetric linkages between infrastructure development, green innovation, and consumption-based material footprint: Novel empirical estimations from highly resource-consuming economi," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    11. Fernandez, Viviana, 2018. "Mineral commodity consumption and intensity of use re-assessed," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1-18.
    12. João Leitão & Joaquim Ferreira, 2021. "Dynamic Effects of Material Production and Environmental Sustainability on Economic Vitality Indicators: A Panel VAR Approach," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Dhar, Subash & Shukla, Priyadarshi R., 2015. "Low carbon scenarios for transport in India: Co-benefits analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 186-198.
    14. Sun, Yunpeng & Ajaz, Tahseen & Razzaq, Asif, 2022. "How infrastructure development and technical efficiency change caused resources consumption in BRICS countries: Analysis based on energy, transport, ICT, and financial infrastructure indices," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    15. Song, Yi & Cheng, Jinhua & Zhang, Yijun & Dai, Tao & Huang, Jianbai, 2021. "Direct and indirect effects of heterogeneous technical change on metal consumption intensity: Evidence from G7 and BRICS countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Frank Pothen & Heinz Welsch, 2017. "Economic Development and Material Use," Working Papers V-399-17, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2017.
    17. Ulucak, Recep & Koçak, Emrah & Erdoğan, Seyfettin & Kassouri, Yacouba, 2020. "Investigating the non-linear effects of globalization on material consumption in the EU countries: Evidence from PSTR estimation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    18. Elshkaki, Ayman & Reck, Barbara K. & Graedel, T.E., 2017. "Anthropogenic nickel supply, demand, and associated energy and water use," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 300-307.
    19. Brausmann, Alexandra & Bretschger, Lucas, 2018. "Economic development on a finite planet with stochastic soil degradation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-19.
    20. Johnny Flentø, 2021. "Ending Poverty in All its Forms Everywhere," DERG working paper series 21-13, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Development Economics Research Group (DERG).

    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:spr:minecn:v:31:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s13563-017-0113-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.