Konsumpcja energii a wzrost gospodarczy
[Energy consumption and economic growth]

Rafał Kasperowicz (Katedra Mikroekonomii, UE Poznań)


Economic growth theory assumes that GDP growth per capita is driven by technological 
progress and capital investment. The capital investments include knowledge investment what 
is called "technology-enhanced labour productivity". Assuming that capital and knowledge 
accumulate over time, most growth economists as well as politicians take for granted that 
incomes will increase. The standard theory of growth does not take into account energy and 
cannot explain economic declines except as a consequence of reduced labor. 

In the study I offer additional theoretical and empirical arguments for the view that energy 
is a constrain factor of economic growth. A production function with energy as third factor 
besides capital and labor is better capable of tracing the pattern of production relations 
over time. The policy implication of this is that the likely future scenario of peak oil and 
stringent climate policy through carbon pricing will cause much pressure on economic growth, 
and may well mean that past rates of growth are not feasible at all in the future.