Rebound Redux

The Jevons Paradox is a special case of Jean-Baptiste Say’s Law of Markets, a cherished version of which has it that “Every labor-saving device creates in general as many, oftentimes more, jobs than it destroys…” You can’t “reject” Jevons without also repudiating Say. They’re joined at the hip.

So will that reduced carbon footprint also be “jobless”? There is a way out of the dilemma, but it involves investigating the relationship between the Jevons Paradox and Say’s Law, not cherry-picking the parts you like and the parts you don’t. I discuss this relationship in Chapter 1 of Jobs, Liberty and the Bottom Line.

See also What “lump of energy” fallacy? at Crooked Timber