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Economy-Wide Rebound Effects: State of the art, a new taxonomy, policy and research gaps Discussion Paper

This is the first output for a 3-year research project (ReCap), which is focusing on economy-wide rebound effects and how to mitigate them through policy action. This discussion paper has been written collectively by the research team and has two aims: One is to develop a systematic understanding of the various kinds of rebound effects that are discussed in the literature. This provides to basis for our second aim, which is to analyse the state of research on rebound effects regarding the question of how rebounds can be limited through policy action. In this discussion paper, we therefore introduce a novel multi-level typology of rebound effects, which builds on and extends earlier typologies. In our taxonomy, we differentiate between various micro-, meso- and macroeconomic rebound effects, which arise at micro, meso and macro levels. In the following in-depth literature review, we consider both bottom-up and top-down approaches to studying rebound effects in theory and empirical research before turning to potential policies for mitigating rebound effects. We conclude with an overview of issues for future research and ways in which ReCap intends to contribute to their advancement.