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> Smil introduces a surprising and counterintuitive idea he calls relative dematerialization. As innovation lets us make a given product more efficiently, with
by tdaltonc 12y ago
> Smil introduces a surprising and counterintuitive idea he calls relative dematerialization. As innovation lets us make a given product more efficiently, with fewer materials or energy, prices go down and consumption goes up.
This is called Jevons Paradox; or at least it used to be. Economists have a good handle on this idea now so we don't call it a paradox anymore.
- GFischer 12y agoIt has a Wikipedia page :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox Edit: it was pointed out earlier further downthread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7894415 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7894415