Drivers for the use of materials across countries

Abstract This paper analyses drivers for resource use and material productivity across countries. This is not only relevant in light of soaring raw material prices but also because EU policies, such as the ‘Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources’ (COM [2005] 670), the EU Raw Materials Initiative (COM [2008] 699) and various similar policies internationally, seek to better manage materials along their life-cycle and across economies. In order to better understand the system dynamics of material use, our paper applies methodologies of material flow analysis and regression analysis to identify the major drivers for resource use and decoupling from GDP. Drivers are understood as those factors that exert influence on human activities to use resources. A panel data set is taken for the European Union for the years 1980–2000 (EU-15) and 1992–2000 (EU-25). The main drivers of resource use were found to be energy efficiency, new dwellings and roads construction activities. Shortcomings of the methodology are also discussed.

[1]  Bernhard Kittel,et al.  Sense and sensitivity in pooled analysis of political data , 1999 .

[2]  Stefan Bringezu,et al.  Sustainable Resource Management , 2009 .

[3]  Jeffrey M. Woodbridge.  Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data , 2002 .

[4]  P. Ferrão,et al.  A new environmental Kuznets curve? Relationship between direct material input and income per capita: evidence from industrialised countries , 2003 .

[5]  Wei Li,et al.  Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance , 2009, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[6]  Raimund Bleischwitz,et al.  Decoupling GDP from resource use, resource productivity and competitiveness : a cross-country comparison , 2017 .

[7]  In Choi,et al.  Unit root tests for panel data , 2001 .

[8]  Elias Tzavalis,et al.  Inference for unit roots in dynamic panels where the time dimension is fixed , 1999 .

[9]  Governance of Sustainable Development , 2003 .

[10]  Kaddour Hadri,et al.  Testing for Stationarity in Heterogeneous Panel Data , 2000 .

[11]  J. oliver-solà.  Prosperity without Growth? – The transition to a sustainable economy , 2010 .

[12]  S. Winter,et al.  Evolutionary theorizing in economics , 2002 .

[13]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[14]  M. Porter,et al.  Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship , 1995 .

[15]  H. Theil.  Introduction to econometrics , 1978 .

[16]  Thomas Plümper,et al.  Panel Data Analysis in Comparative Politics: Linking Method to Theory , 2005 .

[17]  Sven E. Wilson,et al.  A Lot More to Do: The Sensitivity of Time-Series Cross-Section Analyses to Simple Alternative Specifications , 2007, Political Analysis.

[18]  Raimund Bleischwitz,et al.  Aggregates and construction markets in Europe : towards a sectoral action plan on sustainable resource management , 2007 .

[19]  Wuppertal Spezial,et al.  Eco-Innovation-putting the EU on the path to a resource and energy efficient economy , 2012 .

[20]  Stefan Bringezu,et al.  International comparison of resource use and its relation to economic growth: The development of total material requirement, direct material inputs and hidden flows and the structure of TMR , 2004 .

[21]  Paul Lanoie,et al.  Environmental Policy, Innovation and Performance: New Insights on the Porter Hypothesis , 2011 .

[22]  Lars J Nilsson,et al.  A literature review on sustainable lifestyles and recommendations for further research , 2009 .

[23]  P. Vergragt,et al.  Sustainable mobility: from technological innovation to societal learning , 2007 .

[24]  Araújo,et al.  An Evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[25]  J. Wooldridge.  Introduction to Econometrics , 2013 .

[26]  Andrew T. Levin,et al.  Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties , 2002 .

[27]  H. Haberl,et al.  Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the 20th century , 2009 .

[28]  Cheng Hsiao,et al.  Analysis of Panel Data , 1987 .

[29]  Wilfred Malenbaum,et al.  World demand for raw materials in 1985 and 2000 , 1978 .

[30]  Samarjit Das,et al.  Panel unit root tests under cross‐sectional dependence , 2005 .

[31]  M. Pesaran,et al.  Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels , 2003 .

[32]  Nathaniel Beck,et al.  Time‐Series Cross‐Section Methods , 2008 .

[33]  Stefan Bringezu,et al.  Policy review on decoupling : development of indicators to assess decoupling of economic development and environmental pressure in the EU-25 and AC-3 countries , 2005 .

[34]  F. Malerba.  Innovation and the dynamics and evolution of industries: Progress and challenges , 2007 .

[35]  L. Bretschger.  Energy Prices, Growth, and the Channels in between: Theory and Evidence , 2006 .

[36]  M. Wagner.  The Porter Hypothesis Revisited: A Literature Review of Theoretical Models and Empirical Tests , 2004 .

[37]  C. Kolstad,et al.  Do Lax Environmental Regulations Attract Foreign Investment? , 1998 .

[38]  J. Westerlund.  Testing for Error Correction in Panel Data , 2006 .

[39]  M. Ruth,et al.  Indicators of Dematerialization and the Materials Intensity of Use , 1998 .

[40]  Helga Weisz,et al.  The physical economy of the European Union: Cross-country comparison and determinants of material consumption , 2006 .

[41]  ZhongXiang Zhang,et al.  Sustainable growth and resource productivity : economic and global policy issues , 2009 .

[42]  Raimund Bleischwitz,et al.  Governance of sustainable development: co-evolution of corporate and political strategies , 2004 .

[43]  Jonathan N. Katz,et al.  Modeling Dynamics in Time-SeriesCross-Section Political Economy Data , 2011 .

[44]  Arik Levinson,et al.  Examining the Evidence on Environmental Regulations and Industry Location , 2004 .

[45]  Raimund Bleischwitz,et al.  Cognitive and institutional perspectives of eco-efficiency , 2003 .

[46]  Bernd Meyer,et al.  Modelling scenarios towards a sustainable use of natural resources in Europe , 2008 .

[47]  Rudolf de Groot,et al.  Framing environmental indicators: moving from causal chains to causal networks , 2008 .

[48]  Jonathan N. Katz,et al.  8. Nathaniel Beck and Jonathan N. Katz. 1995. “What to Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data.” American Political Science Review 89 (September): 634–47 Cited 398 times. , 2006, American Political Science Review.

[49]  E. Ostrom,et al.  Revisiting the commons: local lessons, global challenges. , 1999, Science.

[50]  L. Bretschger.  Growth Theory and Sustainable Development , 1999 .

[51]  C. Granger,et al.  Spurious regressions in econometrics , 1974 .

[52]  Tim Jackson.  Prosperity without growth? : the transition to a sustainable economy : [summary] , 2009 .