Structural decomposition analysis and input-output subsystems: Changes in CO2 emissions of Spanish service sectors (2000-2005)

The analysis of gas emissions by an input-output subsystem approach provides detailed insight into pollution generation in an economy. Structural decomposition analysis, on the other hand, identifies the factors behind the changes in key variables over time. Extending the input-output subsystem model to account for the changes in these variables reveals the channels by which environmental burdens are caused and transmitted throughout the production system. In this paper we propose a decomposition of the changes in the components of CO₂ emissions captured by an input-output subsystems representation. The empirical application is for the Spanish service sector, and the economic and environmental data are for years 2000 and 2005. Our results show that services increased their CO₂ emissions mainly because of a rise in the emissions generated by non-services to cover the final demand for services. The decomposed effects show a decrease in CO₂ emissions due to technological changes between 2000 and 2005 compensated by an increase in emissions caused by the rise in final demand of services. Finally, large asymmetries exist not only in the quantitative changes in the CO₂ emissions of the various services but also in the decomposed effects of these changes.     

Input-output models, directed graphs and flows in networks

This article demonstrates that a dual pair of input-output price and quantity models, taken together, constitutes a composite network flow model. The network flow model has become a dominant analytical tool within the fields of operations analysis and electrical engineering, and the aim of the article is to enable input-output users within non-standard applications to take advantage of the large body of literature within these disciplines. Through a simple example it is shown that the solution of a dual pair of input-output models is a special case of the general problem of finding a minimum cost circulation in a transportation network. Second, it is shown that the common method of determining quantities and prices in input-output models is identical to the classical node method for determination of currents and voltages in an electrical network. The theory of transportation networks offers well developed methods for analysis of capacity constraints on the network flows, while the theory of electrical networks supplies methods for analysis of models with price sensitivities and for dynamic analysis. In addition, the elegant symmetry of currents and voltages in electrical networks contributes significantly to a better understanding of the logical relationship between price and quantity models.     

基于能值分析的土地可持续利用态势研究

本文应用能值分析的理论和方法，构建了基于能值的标定土地可持续利用态势的若干指数，如土地利用总能值投入产出比，土地利用工业能能值投入产出比，土地利用环境负载指数以及土地可持续利用指数。作为案例研究，作者利用上述指数对1978－1999年中车农业土地的可持续性进行判定。结果表明，尽管粮食产量或农业产值等经济指标为土地利用总能值投入产出比和工业能能值投入产出指数前期剧烈下降，后期趋于平缓；土地利用环境负载指数持续上升的态势说明，中国农用土地的环境压力逐渐增大，土地可持续利用指数在前期呈现上升趋势，至1985的达到最高，此后呈持续下降态势，近年趋于稳定。这表明，由过度使用化石能量引起的环境负面效应对农用土地生态系统的压力不断增大，若不遏制这种发展势头，中国农用土地生态系统的可持续性将得不到延存。     

Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities — Part 1: A technical note on combining input-output and ecological footprint analysis

In recent years there have been a number of attempts to develop a more comprehensive approach to the issue of measuring resource use and/or pollution generation embodied in trade flows, including contributions that combine input-output techniques and Ecological Footprint analysis. In this two-part paper we describe how to enumerate the resource and/or pollution content of inter-regional and inter-national trade flows (Part 1) and we present a literature review of recent methodological and empirical developments (Part 2). It is straightforward in principle to extend the basic input-output approach to capture international trade flows. However, in practice, problems of data availability and compatibility, and of computability of extended input-output matrices, mean that simplifying assumptions are generally applied, but with the implications of these assumptions often not made fully explicit. What appears to be absent from previous applications is an account of the analytical method by which Ecological Footprints should ideally be estimated in an international input-output accounting analysis. This allows an explicit analysis of the problems that prevent the application of the full method and identification of the most appropriate short-cut methods in a transparent way. The objective of this paper is to provide such an account.     

Applying input-output analysis to scenario analysis of ecological footprints

Application of input-output analysis to ecological footprints (EFs) is shifting from an ex-post static calculation toward an ex-ante scenario analysis for enhancing the policy relevance of EF analysis. This change in application prompts two issues requiring careful examination: (1) what is measured by Leontief inverses or extended environmental Leontief inverses, and (2) whether a sector's land multiplier (or compositions of land multiplier) can appropriately reflect the effect of delivering one unit of the sector's output to final demand on the required area(s) of production lands used by the sector itself and by other producing sectors whose products are contributed directly and indirectly to its production. The underlying message of these two questions is whether the assumed linear marginal relationship between a sector's output and its intermediate inputs (input-output coefficients)—a critical assumption made by W. Leontief to transform a transactions table from an accounting framework into the input-output model—can be extended to assume that the marginal relationship between a sector's output and the area of production land it uses for generating output is fixed (land-output marginal coefficient equal to average coefficient). By reviewing the literature on input-output analysis and its application to environmental issues and by theoretically and empirically examining the relation between sector output and land appropriation, this study advises against the use of land multipliers or their compositions in the EF scenario analysis.To apply the input-output model to EF scenario analysis for enhancing policy relevance with due attention to the relationship between sector output and land appropriation, this study suggests a two-stage EF calculation procedure. In the first stage, the input-output application estimates only the required raw materials (or generated pollutants) for meeting a given consumption pattern, which is the objective of environmental input-output analysis; in the second stage, the estimated amount of raw materials or pollutants is converted into land/water area, and a choice of conversion methods is suggested according to the research questions and the availability of conversion methods and required data.     

On the determinants of UK unemployment and the Great Recession: analysing the gross flows data

This article provides a detailed analysis of the gross worker flows data in the United Kingdom between 1997 and 2010, with particular emphasis on the 2008/2009 recession and its aftermath. Utilizing flows data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the dominant macroeconomic factors driving unemployment in the United Kingdom before, during and after the recessionary period are identified. Amongst the salient findings of this article is a striking decline in job-to-job movements throughout and beyond the recent recession. This discovery adds a new dimension to the existing literature in this field.     

Input-output analysis of carbon emissions embodied in China-Japan trade

Energy-related CO₂ emissions embodied in international trade have been widely studied by researchers all over the world. By using the bilateral trade input–output (BTIO) approach, this study investigates the CO₂ emissions embodied in China–Japan trade during 1995–2009 and attempts to identify the driving forces for the change in CO₂ emissions embodied in China’s exports to Japan during that period by using structural decomposition analysis (SDA). Result shows that CO₂ emissions embodied in China’s exports increased by about 100% from 1995 to 2009, whereas those embodied in China’s imports increased by about 500% during the same period. Result of this research also reveals that the scale effect had a large influence on the increase in CO₂ emissions embodied in China–Japan trade. The technical effect greatly decreased CO₂ emissions embodied in China’s exports to Japan, but obviously increased those embodied in imports. The influence of the structural effect was relatively small and insignificant in the change of CO₂ emissions embodied in China’s exports to Japan, but was notable in the change of emissions embodied in imports.     

Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities — Part 2: Review of input-output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade

This paper offers a detailed review of recently described single- and multi-region input-output models used to assess environmental impacts of internationally traded goods and services. It is the second part of a two-part contribution. In Part 1 [Turner, K., Lenzen, M., Wiedmann, T. and Barrett, J. in press. Examining the Global Environmental Impact of Regional Consumption Activities — Part 1: A Technical Note on Combining Input-Output and Ecological Footprint Analysis; Ecological Economics.] we describe how to enumerate the resource and pollution content of inter-regional and inter-national trade flows with the aim to illustrate an ideal accounting and modelling framework for the estimation of Ecological Footprints.A large number of such environment-economic models have been described but only in the last few years models have emerged that use a more sophisticated multi-region, multi-sector input-output framework. This has been made possible through improvements in data availability and quality as well as computability. We identify six major models that employ multi-sector, multi-region input-output analysis in order to calculate environmental impacts embodied in international trade. Results from the reviewed studies demonstrate that it is important to explicitly consider the production recipe, land and energy use as well as emissions in a multi-region, multi-sector and multi-directional trade model with global coverage and detailed sector disaggregation. Only then reliable figures for indicators of impacts embodied in trade, such as the Ecological Footprint, can be derived.     

基于主成分分析的安徽省科技投入产出水平评价研究

基于国内外对科技投入产出水平的研究,结合安徽实际情况,通过建立一套指标体系,使用因子分析法,对安徽省各地市科技投入产出水平进行了综合分析与评价。结果表明,合肥都市圈引领全省,后发地区潜力较大,皖江带城市辐射带动有待增强,对加快提升全省各市科技投入产出水平具有相当的参考作用。     

中国省际资本流动影响因素的实证分析

对中国省际资本流动的影响因素、影响方向及其影响的显著程度进行了实证检验。结果显示,市场潜力对资本流动具有显著的促进作用,是影响资本流动最重要的因素,而人力资本、开放程度、交通基础设施存量以及拥挤成本对所在省域的资本流动具有抑制作用。在研究期内,资本的集聚效应大于其扩散效应。     

Evolution of FDI flows in the global network: 2003–2012

As one type of international capital flow, FDI maintains its important role in globalization. This article attempts to investigate the evolution of the FDI flows from a network perspective. Based on the bilateral FDI flows data between countries from 2003 to 2012, we construct the global FDI flows network for each year and thus quantify network measures (such as flow volumes and connections); further by analysing the tendency and changes of these network measures during the past 10 years, we delineate the features and dynamics of the FDI flows in the global network. We have the following findings: (a) the flows network changes during and after the crisis, i.e. flow volume fallen down and recovered, and flow connection restructured with more diversity; (b) the global FDI flows network is getting more loosely connected; (c) individual countries vary in different patterns.     

Local air pollution and global climate change: A combined cost-benefit analysis

This article presents the findings of a combined cost-benefit analysis of local air pollution and global climate change, two subjects that are usually studied separately. Yet these distinct environmental problems are closely related, since they are both driven by the nature of present energy production and consumption patterns. Our study demonstrates the mutual relevance of, and interaction between, policies designed to address these two environmental challenges individually. Given the many dimensions air pollution control and climate change management have in common, it is surprising that they have only little been analyzed in combination so far. We attempt to cover at least part of the existing gap in the literature by assessing how costs and benefits of technologies and strategies that jointly tackle these two environmental problems can best be balanced. By using specific technological options that cut down local air pollution, e.g. related to particulate emissions, one may concurrently reduce CO₂ emissions and thus contribute to diminishing global climate change. Inversely, some of the long-term climate change strategies simultaneously improve the quality of air in the short run. We have extended the well-established MERGE model by including emissions of particulate matter, and show that integrated environmental policies generate net global welfare benefits. We also demonstrate that the discounted benefits of local air pollution reduction significantly outweigh those of global climate change mitigation, at least by a factor of 2, but in most cases of our sensitivity analysis much more. Still, we do not argue to only restrict energy policy today to what should be our first priority, local air pollution control, and wait with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, we propose to design policies that simultaneously address these issues, as their combination creates an additional climate change bonus. As such, climate change mitigation proves an ancillary benefit of air pollution reduction, rather than the other way around.     

Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the U.S. Economy: A Structural Decomposition Analysis

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact of various influences on carbon dioxide emissions. It incorporates methodological refinements of input-output structural decomposition analysis, which is the examination of economic change by means of a set of comparative static variations in key parameters of I-O tables. The analysis is performed using a two-tiered KLEM model, which allows for estimation of substitution and technological change effects within and between input aggregates. The model is used to decompose the sources of change in CO₂ emissions in the U.S. over the 1972–82 timeframe using hybrid energy/value tables for the initial and terminal years. Results show the significant effect of substitution within the energy sector and between energy and other inputs as the leading causes of the decline in carbon dioxide emissions.     

THE SEERS MODIFIED INPUT-OUTPUT TABLE: SOME PROJECTION TECHNIQUES

Dudley Seers and his colleagues in working with various less developed economies have proposed a modified version of an input-output table for making projections and tests of consistency in planning. The table includes only the important inter-sectoral flows. By making a simplifying assumption with regard to the non-included inter-sectoral flows, an algebraic formulation of the modified input-output table is possible. The resulting matrix of input-output coefficients and final demands can be transformed into a Leontief input-output matrix which is block triangular and composed of two-blocks, one of which is diagonal. Given a set of final demands it is very easy to solve for the total output of each of the sectors. The amount of computation involved is directly related to the number of intersectoral flows included in the original modified input-output table.     

Hybrid input-output analysis of wastewater treatment and environmental impacts: A case study for the Tokyo Metropolis

This paper proposes a new hybrid input-output model designed to analyze both the generation and treatment of wastewater. This model, named wastewater treatment input-output model (WWIO), can be regarded as an extension of the waste input-output model (WIO) (Nakamura, S. and Kondo, Y., 2002. Input-output analysis of waste management. Journal of Industry Ecology, 6(1): 39-63.). As an application, I compiled the Tokyo Metropolitan WWIO table for 2000, which comprises 482 economic sectors, 11 wastewater treatment sectors, 12 types of wastewater-related waste and 6 types of environmental load. The model was applied to different scenarios to compare alternative wastewater treatment systems. The results indicate that replacing the simple treatment with the high-class treatment improves the quality of treated water while increasing CO₂-equivalent emissions. Meanwhile, when the dewatered sludge is incinerated instead of landfilling, both CO₂-equivalent emissions and landfill volume decrease.     

The CO2 ‘trade balance’ between Scotland and the rest of the UK: Performing a multi-region environmental input–output analysis with limited data

In this paper we attempt an empirical application of the multi-region input–output (MRIO) method proposed by Turner, Lenzen, Wiedmann and Barrett [Turner, K., Lenzen, M., Wiedmann, T., Barrett, J., 2007. Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities — part 1: a technical note on combining input–output and ecological footprint analysis. Ecological Economics 62 (1), 37–44] in a recent issue of this journal in order to enumerate the CO2 pollution content of interregional trade flows between Scotland and the rest of the UK (RUK). We extend the analysis to account for direct emissions generation by households, as final consumers, and to a social accounting matrix (SAM), where a more comprehensive account of incomes and expenditures is possible. While the existence of significant data problems mean that the quantitative results of this study should be regarded as provisional, the interregional economy-environment IO and SAM framework for Scotland and RUK allows an illustrative analysis of some very important issues in terms of the nature and significance of interregional environmental spillovers within the UK and the existence of a CO₂ ‘trade balance’ between Scotland and RUK.     

Worker flows, job flows and firm wage policies

Like many transition economies, Slovenia is undergoing profound changes in the workings of the labour market with potentially greater flexibility in terms of both wage and employment adjustment. To investigate the impact of these changes, we use unique longitudinal matched employer‐employee data that permits measurement of employment transitions and wages for workers and enables links of the workers to the firms in which they are employed. We can thus measure worker flows and job flows in a comprehensive and integrated manner. We find a high pace of job flows in Slovenia especially for young, small, private and foreign‐owned firms and for young, less educated workers. While job flows have approached the rates observed in developed market economies, the excess of worker flows above job flows is lower than that observed in market economies. A key factor in the patterns of the worker and job flows is the determination of wages in Slovenia. A base wage schedule provides strict guidelines for minimum wages for different skill categories. However, firms are permitted to offer higher wages to an individual based upon the success of the worker and/or the firm. Our analysis shows that firms deviate from the base wage schedule significantly and that the idiosyncratic wage policies of firms are closely related to the observed pattern of worker and job flows at the firm. Firms with more flexible wages (measured as less compression of wages within the firm) have less employment instability and are also able to improve the match quality of their workers. JEL Classifications: J23, J31, J41, J61, P23, P31.     

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND POLICIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

This article explains how economic analysis can be applied to understand environmental problems and to suggest appropriate policies to deal with these problems. Economic analysis is performed using static and dynamic models, and one‐person and several‐person game theoretical models. Policy recommendations include the control of industrial pollution in China and the regulation of world CO₂ emission through the application of a resolution by the United Nations.     

The effect of the Kyoto Protocol on international trade flows: evidence from G20 countries

This study examines the effect of the Kyoto Protocol on trade using gravity model with a Quandt–Andrews test for detection of structural break with G20 countries data. The structural break on international trade took place in 2003 that is around 1 year after the adoption of the Marrakesh Accords which includes the detailed implementation rules of the Kyoto Protocol. According to estimation results, this study can support the negative effect of environmental regulations on trade flows.     

Norwegian Emissions of CO2 1987–1994 A Study of Some Effects of the CO2 Tax

Several countries have introduced taxes on fossil fuels with the aim of reducing atmospheric emissions, partly because of local environmental goals (SO₂, NO_x) and partly to participate in a global effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Many macroeconomic studies, based on both global and national models, have been made of how emissions can be reduced with the help of taxes and the consequent reduction in GDP following the introduction of such taxes. Norway has had a CO₂ tax for five years, thereby providing a unique opportunity to evaluate the effects of this tax on emissions. The paper provides a counterfactual analysis of energy consumption and emissions if no CO₂ taxes had been introduced, compared with the actual situation in which such taxes exist. The effect of a CO₂ tax on oil consumption, and thus CO₂ emissions is studied on the basis of partial economic models for various sectors of the Norwegian economy. The study indicates that the CO₂ tax has had an impact on CO₂ emissions in Norway.