经济系统物质流分析方法近年来在可持续发展研究领域发展尤为迅速。论文对该研究方法的发展历程、主要观点、逻辑框架及相关应用研究进行了评介,并在此基础上指出了其方法的主要作用和局限,对其未来研究的发展方向提出了建议:①主要作用有二,一是能够得到简洁的可持续发展示踪指标,二是得到的采用物理量为单位的物质流指标便于比较;②主要局限有三,一是大的物质流会冲淡物质流指标描述物质流动状况的清晰度,二是物质流指标与物质流动环境影响之间的联系不够紧密,三是使用范围有限制;③未来研究发展方向有三,一是挖掘物质流分析结果所蕴含的社会研究价值,二是与土地利用分析的结合,三是向物质投入产出表的迈进。

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.