This refers to a form of induced demand wherein efficiency improvements in the use of a resource causes increased consumption of the resource rather than a decrease in its use. It was proposed by the English economist, William Stanley Jevons, in his 1865 book The Coal Question . Jevons observed that the efficient use of coal made possible by technology actually caused more coal to be extracted and consumed rather than allowing the preservation of existing reserves. Technological progress, in other words, only allows people to satisfy demands that could not be satisfied earlier in the absence of an appropriate technology.
