IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/halshs-00738258.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

William Stanley Jevons' The Coal Question (1865), beyond the rebound effect

Author

Listed:
  • Antoine Missemer

    (CWP - Centre d'études interdisciplinaires Walras-Pareto - UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne, TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

Before his major 1870s economic writings, William Stanley Jevons wrote in 1865 his first important book entitled 'The Coal Question'. Jevons displays an interest for the problem of resource depletion, and some opportunism linked to the treatment of a subject in vogue at the time. 'The Coal Question' is retrospectively essentially known for having pointed out the first bases of what we call today the rebound effect, known as well as the "Jevons' paradox". No one can deny the major contribution Jevons did by insisting on the energy efficiency paradoxical phenomenon. However, this is not the only interesting idea proposed in 'The Coal Question'. This article aims at drawing a larger framework of the ideas developed by Jevons, looking at some specific points that testify to his position as a turning point in the history of environmental studies. We see that Jevons expresses a desire of emancipation from both natural sciences and engineering, yet without ignoring the necessity of interdisciplinary perspectives to deal with environmental matters. It places Jevons as a pioneer of several modern approaches towards environmental economics, including ecological economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Antoine Missemer, 2012. "William Stanley Jevons' The Coal Question (1865), beyond the rebound effect," Post-Print halshs-00738258, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00738258
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.07.010
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00738258
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00738258/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.07.010?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Madlener, R. & Alcott, B., 2009. "Energy rebound and economic growth: A review of the main issues and research needs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 370-376.
    2. Gaudet, Gérard, 1984. "Théorie économique et prévision en économie des ressources naturelles," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 60(3), pages 271-279, septembre.
    3. Venkatachalam, L., 2007. "Environmental economics and ecological economics: Where they can converge?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 550-558, March.
    4. Michel Robine, 1990. "La question charbonnière de William Stanley Jevons," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 41(2), pages 369-394.
    5. Pearce, David, 1997. "Substitution and sustainability: some reflections on Georgescu-Roegen," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 295-297, September.
    6. A. Greening, Lorna & Greene, David L. & Difiglio, Carmen, 2000. "Energy efficiency and consumption -- the rebound effect -- a survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 389-401, June.
    7. Jeroen Bergh, 2011. "Energy Conservation More Effective With Rebound Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 43-58, January.
    8. Gowdy, John & O'Hara, Sabine, 1997. "Weak sustainability and viable technologies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 239-247, September.
    9. Sorrell, Steve, 2009. "Jevons' Paradox revisited: The evidence for backfire from improved energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1456-1469, April.
    10. Harold Hotelling, 1931. "The Economics of Exhaustible Resources," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 137-137.
    11. White, Michael V., 1991. "Frightening the ‘Landed Fogies’: Parliamentary Politics and The Coal Question," Utilitas, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 289-302, November.
    12. Pearce, David W. & Atkinson, Giles D., 1993. "Capital theory and the measurement of sustainable development: an indicator of "weak" sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 103-108, October.
    13. Maas,Harro, 2005. "William Stanley Jevons and the Making of Modern Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521827126, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Missemer, Antoine, 2012. "William Stanley Jevons' The Coal Question (1865), beyond the rebound effect," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 97-103.
    2. Karen Turner, 2013. ""Rebound" Effects from Increased Energy Efficiency: A Time to Pause and Reflect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    3. Antoine Missemer, 2015. "La peur du déclin économique face à l’épuisement des ressources naturelles, de W. Stanley Jevons à Herbert S. Jevons (1865-1915)," Post-Print hal-01215291, HAL.
    4. Koesler, Simon & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2016. "International spillover and rebound effects from increased energy efficiency in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 444-452.
    5. Koesler, Simon & Swales, Kim & Turner, Karen, 2014. "Beyond national economy-wide rebound effects: An applied general equilibrium analysis incorporating international spillover effects," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-025, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Paul E. Brockway & Harry Saunders & Matthew K. Heun & Timothy J. Foxon & Julia K. Steinberger & John R. Barrett & Steve Sorrell, 2017. "Energy Rebound as a Potential Threat to a Low-Carbon Future: Findings from a New Exergy-Based National-Level Rebound Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, January.
    7. Mills, Bradford & Schleich, Joachim, 2014. "Household transitions to energy efficient lighting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 151-160.
    8. Thomas, Brinda A. & Azevedo, Inês L., 2013. "Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input–output analysis Part 1: Theoretical framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 199-210.
    9. Cédric Gossart, 2015. "Rebound effects and ICT : a review of the literature," Post-Print hal-01258112, HAL.
    10. Guzzo, D. & Walrave, B. & Videira, N. & Oliveira, I.C. & Pigosso, D.C.A., 2024. "Towards a systemic view on rebound effects: Modelling the feedback loops of rebound mechanisms," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    11. Franceschini, Simone & Borup, Mads & Rosales-Carreón, Jesús, 2018. "Future indoor light and associated energy consumption based on professionals' visions: A practice- and network-oriented analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1-11.
    12. Blum, Bianca & Hübner, Julian & Milde, Adrian & Neumärker, Karl Justus Bernhard, 2018. "On the evidence of rebound effects in the lighting sector: Implications for promoting LED lighting," The Constitutional Economics Network Working Papers 05-2018, University of Freiburg, Department of Economic Policy and Constitutional Economic Theory.
    13. Santarius, Tilman & Soland, Martin, 2018. "How Technological Efficiency Improvements Change Consumer Preferences: Towards a Psychological Theory of Rebound Effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 414-424.
    14. Missemer, Antoine & Nadaud, Franck, 2020. "Energy as a factor of production: Historical roots in the American institutionalist context," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    15. Balint Horvath & Miriam Bahna & Csaba Fogarassy, 2019. "The Ecological Criteria of Circular Growth and the Rebound Risk of Closed Loops," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-15, May.
    16. Khoshkalam Khosroshahi, Musa & Sayadi, Mohammad, 2020. "Tracking the sources of rebound effect resulting from the efficiency improvement in petrol, diesel, natural gas and electricity consumption; A CGE analysis for Iran," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    17. Louis-Gaëtan Giraudet & Antoine Missemer, 2023. "The History of Energy Efficiency in Economics: Breakpoints and Regularities," Post-Print halshs-02301636, HAL.
    18. Fei, Rilong & Wang, Haolin & Wen, Zihao & Yuan, Zhen & Yuan, Kaihua & Chunga, Joseph, 2021. "Tracking factor substitution and the rebound effect of China’s agricultural energy consumption: A new research perspective from asymmetric response," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    19. Rocha, Felipe Freitas da & Almeida, Edmar Luiz Fagundes de, 2021. "A general equilibrium model of macroeconomic rebound effect: A broader view," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Schleich, Joachim & Mills, Bradford & Dütschke, Elisabeth, 2014. "A brighter future? Quantifying the rebound effect in energy efficient lighting," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 35-42.

    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:hal:journl:halshs-00738258. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.