Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/178618 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 18-022
Publisher: 
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW), Mannheim
Abstract: 
This study investigates the within-country heterogeneity of material footprints implied by households' consumption in Germany. Material footprints are defined as the amount of biomass, minerals, and fossil fuels extracted to produce the goods that households consume. Combining input-output data with households' consumption expenditures from the German sample survey of income and expenditure (EVS), we present the first comprehensive study on the distribution of material footprints among households, highlighting hot spots of unsustainable consumption patterns by household groups. Households in the quartile with the highest consumption expenditures have material footprints three times as large as those in the quartile with the lowest expenditures. Results of a microeconomic model of household's consumption behaviour estimated on the EVS data suggest that price-based instruments can reduce material footprints of luxury consumption such as leisure and private transport without imposing large burdens on low-affluence households. The material footprints caused by energy consumption do not react sensitively to price changes, suggesting that non-price policies are more effective to reduce them.
Subjects: 
material footprint
demand system estimation
input-output analysis
sustainable consumption
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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