The anxiety of abundance: William Stanley Jevons and coal scarcity in the nineteenth century

Environment and History

Volumn 18, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 395-421

  Madureira, Nuno Luis ^a  

^a INSTITUTO UNIVERSITÁRIO DE LISBOA ISCTE IUL   (Portugal)

Author keywords

Coal; Fossil fuel depletion; Geology; Natural resources; William Stanley Jevons

Indexed keywords

ASSESSMENT METHOD; COAL; COAL SUPPLY; FOSSIL FUEL; NATURAL RESOURCE; NINETEENTH CENTURY; PROBABILITY; RAILWAY; RESOURCE DEPLETION; RESOURCE SCARCITY; SHIPPING; TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION;

EID: 84863996500     PISSN: 09673407     EISSN: 17527023     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3197/096734012X13400389809373     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Bert Mosselmans, 'Reproduction and scarcity: the population mechanism in classicism and in the Jevonian revolution', The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 6 (1999): 34-57; Rolf Peter Sieferle, The Subterranean Forest. Energy Systems and the Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: The White Horse Press, 2001), pp. 197-202.
2. Classical economists focus their attention on the special natural resource of land; a resource whose stock cannot be increased or decreased, but on which a rent is paid. Since the limitedness of land pushes down the rate of profit, the economy is viewed as tending towards a stationary state. See Marianna Belloc et al., 'Technology and the environment in the history of the economic thought', International Journal of Global Environmental Issues 8 (2008): 311-34.
3. Philip Mirowski, More Heat than Light. Economics as Social Physics, Physics as Nature's Economics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 254-265; Michael V. White, 'In the Lobby of the Energy Hotel: Jevon's Formulation of the Postclassical Economic Problem,' History of Political Economy 36 (2004): 227-71.
4. See for instance: House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, Reports by Her Majesty's Secretaries of Embassy and Legation on the Manufactures, Commerce, etc., of the Countries in which they Reside. Part I-V., London: Harrison and Sons, 1875.
5. Reports Received from Her Majesty's Secretaries of Embassy and Legation on Coal, House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers (London: Harrison and Sons, 1866), 1867.
6. William Stanley Jevons, The Coal Question. An Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of Our Coal-Mines (1865; reprint, London: Macmillan and Co., 1866), p. 88.
7. Norman J.G. Pounds, 'The Spread of Mining in the Coal Basin of Upper Silesia and Northern Moravia,' Annals of the Association of American Geographers 48 (1958): 149-163.
8. Geoffrey L. Buckley, 'The Environmental Transformation of an Appalachian Valley, 1850-1906,' Geographical Review 88 (1998): 175-198.
9. Sean Patrick Adams, 'Promotion, Competition, Captivity: The Political Economy of Coal,' Journal of Policy History 18 (2006): 74-95.
10. Roy Church, The History of the British Coal Industry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), pp. 8-9.
11. Several estimates undertaken between 1792 and 1860 on the British Isles predicted that coal reserves would last for 300 to 400 years. See Sieferle, The Subterranean Forest, pp. 188-191; 'Duration of the Supply of Coal,' 29 May 1866, The Leeds Mercury, Issue 8785.
12. Marcel Gillet, Les Charbonnages du Nord de la France au XIXe siècle (Paris: Mouton, 1973), pp. 64-69; M. Maurice Baumont, La grosse industrie allemande et le charbon (Paris: Gaston Doin, 1928), pp. 38-9.
13. Roy Porter, 'Gentlemen and Geology: The Emergence of a Scientific Career, 1660-1920,' The Historical Journal 21 (1978): 809-836; Jean G. O'Connor and A.J. Meadows, 'Specialization and Professionalization in British Geology,' Social Studies of Science 6 (1976): 77-89.
14. Sam H. Schurr and Bruce C. Netschert, Energy in the American Economy, 1850-1975 (Westport-Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1975); Church, The History of the British Coal Industry; John G. Clark, The Political Economy of World Energy (New York, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1990), pp. 16-28.
15. Adams, 'Promotion, Competition, Captivity': 90.
16. Marcus Baker, 'The U. S. Geological Survey,' The Geographical Journal 6 (1895): 252-260.
17. Henry Gannett, Report of the National Conservation Commission. February, 1909 (New York: Arno Press, 1972), p. 96.
18. Samuel P. Hays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1959); Martin V. Melosi, Effluent America, Cities, Industry, Energy and the Environment (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001), pp. 23-48; John G. Clark, Energy and the Federal Government. Fossil Fuel Policies, 1900-1960 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987); Diana Davids Olien and Roger M. Olien 'Running Out of Oil: Discourse and Public Policy, 1909-1929,' Business and Economic History 22 (1993): 36-66.
19. James R. Garfield, 'Address,' in Proceedings of a Conference of Governors in the White House Washington D.C., ed. by Newton C. Blanchard (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1909), p. 183.
20. Hays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, pp. 26-28.
21. Lozé (ed.) Charbons Britanniques et leur épuisement (Paris: Libraire Polytechnique Ch. Bérangeur éditeur, 1900); 'The Treaty and the Coal Question,' 28 February 1860, The Caledonian Mercury, Issue 21973.
22. Edward Hull. The Coal-fields of Great Britain, their History, Structure, and Duration. With notices of the coal-fields of other parts of the world (London: Edward Stanford, 1861), p. 138.
23. Hull. The Coal-fields of Great Britain, p. 139.
24. O'Connor and Meadows, 'Specialization and Professionalization': 80.
25. Gregory Clark and David Jacks, 'Coal and the Industrial Revolution. 1700-1869,' European Review of Economic History 11 (2007): 39-72; Roy Church, The History of the British Coal Industry, p. 180.
26. Joseph Hodsworth, On the Extension of the English Coal-fields beneath the Secondary Formations (London: R. Middleton, 1866); Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Several Matters Relating to Coal in the United Kingdom, House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, (London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode), 1871, Vol. I, pp. 81-2.
27. 'The Coal Supplies of England,' The Derby Mercury, 17 January 1872, Issue 8218.
28. Royal Commission on Coal Supplies, First Report of the Royal Commission on Coal Supplies. Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix, House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers (London: Wyman & Sons, 1903) Vol. II.
29. Only the category of 'proved reserves in place' is currently accepted as a valid category by the World Energy Council. It describes the 'total identified and carefully measured amount of coal estimated to be in place in known deposits as revealed by outcrops or by drilling or mining and by detailed sampling to establish its rank and quality; these deposit have been assessed to be exploitable under current or expected local conditions and using currently available mining technology.' Amos Salvador, Energy: A Historical Perspective and 21st Century Forecast (Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 2005), p. 82.
30. William George Armstrong, Report of the 33d Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, BAAS,1863), pp. li-lxiv.
31. Lozé, Charbons Britanniques et leur épuisement, pp. 851-856.
32. Lozé, Charbons Britanniques et leur épuisement, pp. 853-856.
33. Michel V. White, 'A biographical puzzle: why did Jevons write the coal question?,' Journal of the History of Economic Thought 13 (1991): 222-42.
34. Jevons, The Coal Question, p. 128.
35. In fact, the core of his argument, that savings encourage further consumption, was sometimes not fully understood by the press. See 'The Probable Duration of our Coal Fields,' 16 May 1866, The Leeds Mercury, Issue 8765; untitled article, 7 May 1866 Glasgow Herald, Issue 8216; 'The Supply of Coal in the United Kingdom,' 19 August 1871, Liverpool Mercury, Issue 7355.
36. Jevons, The Coal Question, p. 123.
37. Jevons, The Coal Question, p. 125.
38. Jevons, The Coal Question, pp. 125-127, 135-136, 175.
39. On the difficulties involved in quantitative estimates of the rebound effects see Steve Sorrell, 'Jevons' Paradox Revisited: The Evidence for Backfire from Improved Energy Efficiency,' Energy Policy 37 (2009): 1456-69; Roger Fouquet, Heat, Power and Light: Revolutions in Energy Services (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publications, 2008), pp. 274-81; Roger Fouquet and Peter J. Pearson, 'Seven Centuries of Energy Services: The Price and Use of Light in the United Kingdom (1300-2000),' The Energy Journal 27 (2006): 139-78.
40. For a balance see L.A. Greening, D.L. Greene and C. Difiglio, 'Energy Efficiency and Consumption-The Rebound Effect-A Survey,' Energy Policy 28 (2000): 389-401; Blake Alcott, 'Jevons' Paradox,' Ecological Economics 54 (2005): 9-21.
41. Jevons, The Coal Question, p. 170.
42. Jevons, The Coal Question, pp. 140-168.
43. This hypothesis was raised by White, 'In the Lobby of the Energy Hotel', pp. 227-71.
44. Jevons, The Coal Question, pp. 19-20, 24, 47.
45. William Stanley Jevons, 'The probable duration of our coal seams,' Glasgow Herald, September 6 1871, Issue 9885.
46. The point was raised by Harold Hoteling in reply to conservationist claims over resource depletion in 1931. Harold Hoteling, 'The Economics of Exhaustible Resources,' Journal of Political Economy 39 (1931): 137-75. We would like to thank the anonymous referees for Environment and History for bringing up this point.
47. 'Dudley and Birmingham Geologic and Scientific Society,' 16 August 1862, Birmingham Daily Post, Issue 1269; 'The present working and future supply of coal in this district,'
48. Michael V. White, 'A Revised Bibliography of Publications by W. Stanley Jevons,' History of Economics Review 51 (2010): 106-28.
49. Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the several matters relating to coal in the United Kingdom. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers (London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1871), Vol. I, II and III. For a clear summary of the 1866-1871 Commission see B.W. Clapp, An Environmental History of Britain since the Industrial Revolution (New York: Longman, 1994), pp. 152-56.
50. Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the several matters..., Vol. II, pp. 413-526.
51. Church, The History of the British Coal Industry, pp. 50-5.
52. Report of the Select Committee on Coal, House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers (London: House of Commons, 1873).
53. George W. Melville, Report of the U.S. Naval Liquid Fuel Board (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904); F.B. Dunn, Industrial Uses of Fuel Oil (S. Francisco: Technical Publishing Company, 1916).
54. Gerard V. Middleton, 'The 12th International Geological Congress. Toronto, 1913,' Episodes 30 (2007): 290301; Leon Dominian, 'The Coal Resources of the World: A Summary,' Bulletin of the American Geographical Society 47 (1915): 761-66.
55. William McInnes, D.B. Dowling, and W.W. Leach, The Coal Resources of the World: An enquiry made upon the initiative of the Executive Committee of the Twelfth International Geological Congress, (Toronto-London: Morang & Co.-Dulau & Co, 1913), XVIII.
56. Ian F. Elliot, The Soviet Energy Balance. Natural gas, other fossil fuels and alternative power sources (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974), pp. 122-56.
57. This relationship was recently called into question by contemporary econometric historians. N.F.R. Crafts and C.K. Harley, 'Output Growth and the Industrial Revolution: A Restatement of the Crafts-Harley View,' Economic History Review 45 (1992): 703-30; Clark and Jacks, 'Coal and the Industrial Revolution': 39-72.
58. Church, The History of the British Coal Industry, p. 19, table 1.3.
59. League of Nations International Economic Conference, Memorandum on Coal, (Geneva: League of Nations, 1927), Vol. I, pp. 27-9.
60. On the linkages between Jevons and environmental thinking, see Brett Clark and John Bellamy Foster, 'William Stanley Jevons and The Coal Question: An Introduction to Jevons's "Of the Economy of Fuel",' Organization and Environment 14 (2001): 93-98.
61. For the implications of the concept of 'low rate of time discounting' see Jon Elster, Explaining Social Behavior (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 114-22.