Ecological restructuring in industrial economies : some empirical evidence on materials consumption

Preventive environmental policy may be aimed at stimulating structural change in the consumption of materials. By reducing the resource input ofproduction, less emissions and wastes will occur that have a negative impact on the natural environment. Several authors note that structural change inthe consumption of materials has led to a de-linking of materials consumption and economic growth for developed industrial economies. This paperexplores the concept of structural change by presenting an overview of the relevant contributions to this field and by investigating whether de-linking, enforced by structural change, has actually occurred in developed economies. Empirical estimations are discussed by considering cross-section, timeseries and decomposition analysis. These different approaches do not confirm de-linking unambiguously. Especially in the eighties,structural change turns out to be quite insignificant.