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Rising inequality : A material perspective on the Great Recession in the European Union
Title / Series / Name
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Authors
Editors
Keywords
EU-27
Economic crisis
Inequality
Material accounting
Metabolic rate
Theil index
General Environmental Science
Economics and Econometrics
SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
Economic crisis
Inequality
Material accounting
Metabolic rate
Theil index
General Environmental Science
Economics and Econometrics
SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/27171
Abstract
The 2007/8 economic crisis and the global Great Recession led to widespread turmoil and instability. In Europe, unprecedented reductions in per capita resource use were crisis-driven rather than the result of deliberate policies. This study examines material use patterns in the EU-27 from 2000 to 2020, covering the period before and the onset of the Great Recession. We find that average material consumption in Europe decreased and has since stagnated, although this trend is uneven, with growing underlying inequalities, as measured using the Theil index of metabolic rates. The patterns in construction materials especially shape overall resource use trajectories. The role of infrastructure and services provisioning, especially where these are fossil-fueled, emerges as key in understanding these patterns. Geographic groupings of EU member states—Northern, Eastern, Mediterranean, and Central—further explain the inequalities that deepened following the recession. These emerging disparities raise important questions about what underpins the European project in a Union in which growth or sustained wealth in some member states systematically coincides with what can only be described as collapse elsewhere.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2025-01
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108417