DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k6djh9wfq
title: Data from: Is America dematerializing? Trends and tradeoffs in historic demand for one hundred commodities in the United States

description: We introduce a broad yet detailed data framework to assess the physical
 basis of modern industrial societies based on trends in their commodity
 demand. Using the example of the United States from 1900 to 2020, we
 consider both absolute commodity demand (ABS) and demand indexed to
 economic activity, otherwise known as intensity of use (IOU), for one
 hundred commodities that constitute the bulk of the material entering the
 US economy annually. The commodities selected are generally raw materials
 that enter the economy as industrial inputs that are further processed and
 incorporated into intermediate and finished products. The data show that
 ABS for nearly all the 100 commodities rose steadily until 1970 with IOU
 consistently rising for many as well. After that time, the trends for
 different groups of commodities start to diverge. Comparing ABS and IOU
 for the years 1970 and 2020 brings into focus the divergent trends. We
 find that for many metals and mineral commodities, domestic consumption
 fell over the last half century, though much of this missing consumption
 may represent production displaced to other locations. For a larger cross
 section of commodities, consumption grew but more slowly than the rest of
 the economy, as per capita consumption for many basic industrial and
 consumer commodities remained roughly steady. For a small group of
 commodities, including technology metals, consumption grew faster than the
 rest of the economy between 1970 and 2020. By examining a large range of
 commodities over time, we develop a disaggregated framework for more
 rigorously assessing whether contemporary industrial societies are
 dematerializing, that is, reducing the amount of physical material
 necessary for their economies to function. Though restricted to the United
 States, this study has relevance to other countries around the world in
 elucidating the underlying physical basis of modern economies with
 implications for environmental quality, economic competitiveness, and
 national security.
description: The database is an Excel workbook with three tabs. 
 Tab 1 - Table S1 (Historical Data)  - Contains the reported data
 on apparent consumption of 100 commodities in the United States generally
 denominated in metric tons.  These data were not generated, or calculated,
 but taken directly from were collected online from US government natural
 resources agencies.  No processing of the data took place other than
 normalization.  Table S1 also includes a times series from 1900 to 2020 on
 US Gross Domestic Product.  Tab 2  - Table S2
 (Technical notes) - Gives the source of data for each of the commodities
 listed in Table S1 as well as technical notes regarding the data as
 necessary. Tab 3 - ABS-IOU – Presents the calculated
 values for the variables IOU<sub>2020/1970</sub> and
 ASB<sub>2020/1970</sub> as shown in Figure 3 of the paper. 
 These calculated values are based directly on data from Table
 S1.
description: # Data from: Is America dematerializing? Trends and tradeoffs in historic
 demand for one hundred commodities in the United States
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k6djh9wfq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.k6djh9wfq) Reported Consumption Data for 100 commodities in the United States for the years 1900-2020 (coverage subject to data availability) ## Description of the data and file structure Simple excel file. Worksheet 1 includes the historical data by commodity. Worksheet 2 contains the technical notes for each commodity including the data sources. Worksheet 3 contains the calculated values for ABS and IOU, which are shown in Figure 3. of the paper. ## Sharing/Access information Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: * [https://phe.rockefeller.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wernick_100-commodities-Tables-S1-S2-050624.xlsx](https://phe.rockefeller.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wernick_100-commodities-Tables-S1-S2-050624.xlsx) Data was derived from the following sources: * US Government