关键词: 资源经济学, 经济系统物质流分析, 述评, 可持续发展

Abstract: Material Flow Analysis(MFA) is a basic method for studying sustainable development. In general,MFA could be applied at three levels:economy,wide level ,sector level and product level.Among the above three levels,economy,wide Materi al Flow Analysis (economy,wide MFA) developed most rapidly in recent years.This article comprehensively introduced the history,typical viewpoints and applicatio ns of economy,wide MFA,pointed out the typical advantages and limits of this met hod,and identified some issues that should be paid more attention to in recent r esearch of economy,wide MFA.Some conclusions were drawn as follows:(1)The advant ages of economy,wide MFA are that compact sustainable development indicators can be obtained for comparison,(2)The limits of economy,wide MFA include that major material flow may dilute the definition of description of total material flows, that links between material flows and environmental impact are not close,and tha t its applied range is limited,(3)In future,social research value of the result of economy,wide MFA,combination of economy,wide MFA and land use analysis,and PI OT ( Physical Input,Output Table) should be paid more attention to.

Key words: resource economics, economy,wide MFA, review, sustainable development