The political economy of energy use and pollution: the environmental effects of East-European transition to market economy

The transition of Eastern Europe to Western-type liberal capitalism has by many observers been interpreted as an important step towards a more ecologically sustainable Europe. The main argument has been that the energy efficiency of the West-European economy will be imported to Eastern Europe and lead to lower energy consumption and lower pollution. This line of argumentation seems sound as far as the industrial sector is concerned. However, it does not take into consideration the energy and pollution bill of the lavish lifestyle of modern consumer-oriented societies. A shift away from the moderate private consumption of East-European Communism, towards the Western consumerist lifestyle may diminish or even abolish the positive ecological effects of the East-European transition to a competitive market economy. In order to shed empirical light on this problematique, this article explores energy consumption and pollution patterns of Eastern and Western Europe both as far as industrial and domestic end-user consumption is concerned. The article argues that these patterns are related to basic characteristics of the communist and capitalist systems and that pollution and energy-use, in other words, are fundamentally conditioned by the over all political economy.