Note: Today (4 June 2024) marks the 35th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

The Jevons paradox refers to the unintended consequences that can result from technological progress: on the one hand, improvements or innovations in technology not only increase the efficiency with which a given resource is used, reducing the cost of any one use of that resource; but at the same time, those very improvements and innovations can also increase the overall demand for that resource, thus cancelling out or reversing the initial cost-savings and efficiency gains!

For an everyday example of this economic puzzle, look no further than Email, social media, etc. These things make it more easier than ever before to communicate with other people, thus increasing the overall level of one’s workload, since we now have to constantly check our emails and DMs to stay on top of things.

Bonus question: Does the Jevons paradox also explain the “enshittification” of the Internet more generally? See also: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/20/the-efficiency-dilemma and the tweet below: