Not only subterranean forests: Wood consumption and economic development in Britain (1850–1938)

Iñaki Iriarte-Goñi,María-Isabel Ayuda

doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.02.029

Iñaki Iriarte-Goñi, María-Isabel Ayuda

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.02.029

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Journal: Ecological Economics	Publication Date: Mar 30, 2012
Citations: 21	License type: cc-by

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This paper analyzes wood consumption in Britain over the period 1850–1938. We calculate the apparent consumption of wood, taking into account both net imports of wood and the home harvest. We then develop some quantitative exercises that correlate wood consumption with GDP, with prices of wood and iron (as an alternative material to wood) and with other measures. The main conclusion is that, although wood had lost its economic centrality after the energy transition, wood consumption continued to grow in Britain both in absolute and relative terms, showing a positive elasticity to GDP superior to the unit. This result allows us to reach a more complete understanding of the socio-metabolic transition associated with the Industrial Revolution. Britain faced the increase in wood demand by relying almost entirely on imported wood, reinforcing the idea that the decoupling of economic growth from land use must to be handled with care, and should be observed not at the national level but on a global scale. Although British economic development was to a great extent focussed on what has been called the “subterranean forests” of coal, it simultaneously supported large tracts of surface foreign forest.

Highlights

As is evident, the forest is much more than a storehouse of timber, wood has been -and to a significant extent continues to be- the main economic product obtained from forests
In Early Modern Europe, wood was a key element of the economy, since it was the main source of energy for daily life and for the operation of many industries
The results presented in the previous sections allow us to establish some significant discussion points concerning economic growth, the use of natural resources, the substitution of materials, and technological change

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Introduction

As is evident, the forest is much more than a storehouse of timber, wood has been -and to a significant extent continues to be- the main economic product obtained from forests. In Early Modern Europe, wood was a key element of the economy, since it was the main source of energy for daily life and for the operation of many industries. It was the essential raw material in the manufacture of many products. New materials and sources of energy, in the form of fossil fuels, entered the economic system, diminishing the importance of organic raw materials (Wrigley, 1988; 2010) It was one of the main elements of a process that has been described by some authors as the change in the social metabolism of economies (Fischer-Kowalski and Haberl, 1993; Krausmann, Schandl, and Schulz, 2003). Energy came from what has been called the “subterranean forests” of coal (Sieferle, 2001), through which modern economies were decoupled from the supply of energy coming from the surface of the land (Kraussman, Schandl and Sieferle, 2008)

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