The Coal Question
E530104
The Coal Question is an influential 1865 treatise by economist William Stanley Jevons that examines the economic and environmental implications of Britain's dependence on coal and introduces what later became known as the Jevons paradox.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Coal Question canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5525321 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Coal Question Context triple: [William Stanley Jevons, notableWork, The Coal Question]
-
A.
On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures is an 1832 treatise by Charles Babbage that analyzes industrial production, the division of labor, and the impact of machinery on economic efficiency and society.
-
B.
The Control of Industry
"The Control of Industry" is an influential economic and political treatise by British Labour politician and economist Hugh Dalton examining how industrial production should be organized and regulated in a modern state.
-
C.
The Condition of the Working Class in England
The Condition of the Working Class in England is an 1845 socio-economic study by Friedrich Engels that exposes the harsh living and labor conditions of the industrial proletariat in 19th-century England.
-
D.
Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages
Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages is a 19th-century economic treatise by Nassau William Senior analyzing the determinants and dynamics of wage levels in industrial society.
-
E.
Practical Socialism for Britain
Practical Socialism for Britain is a political work by British Labour politician and economist Hugh Dalton outlining his vision for implementing socialist policies in the United Kingdom.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Coal Question Target entity description: The Coal Question is an influential 1865 treatise by economist William Stanley Jevons that examines the economic and environmental implications of Britain's dependence on coal and introduces what later became known as the Jevons paradox.
-
A.
On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures is an 1832 treatise by Charles Babbage that analyzes industrial production, the division of labor, and the impact of machinery on economic efficiency and society.
-
B.
The Control of Industry
"The Control of Industry" is an influential economic and political treatise by British Labour politician and economist Hugh Dalton examining how industrial production should be organized and regulated in a modern state.
-
C.
The Condition of the Working Class in England
The Condition of the Working Class in England is an 1845 socio-economic study by Friedrich Engels that exposes the harsh living and labor conditions of the industrial proletariat in 19th-century England.
-
D.
Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages
Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages is a 19th-century economic treatise by Nassau William Senior analyzing the determinants and dynamics of wage levels in industrial society.
-
E.
Practical Socialism for Britain
Practical Socialism for Britain is a political work by British Labour politician and economist Hugh Dalton outlining his vision for implementing socialist policies in the United Kingdom.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
economic treatise ⓘ |
| author | William Stanley Jevons ⓘ |
| centralArgument |
Britain’s economic supremacy depended critically on cheap coal
ⓘ
Exhaustion or rising cost of coal would undermine British industrial power ⓘ Increased efficiency in coal use can lead to increased total coal consumption ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| discusses |
coal mining
ⓘ
iron industry ⓘ limits to growth ⓘ population growth ⓘ railways ⓘ steam power ⓘ |
| firstEditionPlaceOfPublication |
London
ⓘ
linked to:
London, England
|
| genre | non-fiction ⓘ |
| hasPart |
chapters on coal consumption
ⓘ
chapters on coal supply ⓘ chapters on national policy ⓘ chapters on technological improvement ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
early systematic analysis of energy and economic growth
ⓘ
foundational work for the concept later called the Jevons paradox ⓘ important contribution to Victorian debates on resource exhaustion ⓘ |
| influenced |
debates on peak resources
ⓘ
energy economics ⓘ environmental economics ⓘ sustainability discourse ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| notableConcept | Jevons paradox ⓘ |
| proposes | that policy cannot easily offset the rebound from efficiency gains ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1865 ⓘ |
| publisher | Macmillan and Co. ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
energy efficiency
ⓘ
peak coal ⓘ rebound effect ⓘ resource scarcity ⓘ |
| relatedWork | The Theory of Political Economy ⓘ |
| subject |
British economy
ⓘ
coal ⓘ economic growth ⓘ energy economics ⓘ environmental impact of coal ⓘ industrialization ⓘ resource depletion ⓘ sustainability ⓘ technological efficiency ⓘ |
| timePeriodDiscussed | 19th-century Britain ⓘ |
| warnsAbout |
economic risks of overreliance on a single energy source
ⓘ
long-term scarcity of coal ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Coal Question Description of subject: The Coal Question is an influential 1865 treatise by economist William Stanley Jevons that examines the economic and environmental implications of Britain's dependence on coal and introduces what later became known as the Jevons paradox.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.