Energy consumption in transitional economies: Jevons' paradox for Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland

In this paper, we argue that improved energy efficiency leads to increased consumption of energy for the transitional economies of Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, and Hungary. The concept that energy consumption increases with improved energy efficiency is known as Jevons’ Paradox. We will provide some evidence that Jevons’ Paradox may exist for the four study countries and discuss why this result may be occurring. Analysis of this kind is vital because it could enable policy-makers to develop national energy strategies that would account for the stages of economic development that their countries reached. For two of these countries, Romania and Bulgaria, the results provided in the paper have strong policy implications as these countries must meet European Union standards as they are admitted into the community.

Keywords: Energy economics, Jevons’ paradox, Transitional economies
JEL Classification: O13, P28, Q4, N7