Position in global value chains and wages in Central and Eastern European countries

This paper examines the relationship between the relative position of industries in Global Value Chains (GVC) and wages in 10 Central and Eastern European countries. We combine GVC measures of global import intensity of production, upstreamness and the length of the value chain with micro-data on workers. We find that the wages of Central and Eastern European countries workers are higher when their industry is at the beginning of the chain or at the end than in the middle. Secondly, wage changes depend on the interplay between upstreamness and GVC intensity. In sectors close to final demand, greater production fragmentation is associated with lower wages.

Drivers of global nitrogen emissions

Nitrogen is crucial for sustaining life. However, excessive reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the form of ammonia, nitrates, nitrogen oxides or nitrous oxides affects the quality of water, air and soil, resulting in human health risks. This study aims to assess the drivers of Nr emissions by analysing six determinants: nitrogen efficiency (Nr emissions per unit of production), production recipe (inter-sectoral dependencies), final demand composition (consumption baskets of households), final demand destination (consumption vs. investment balance), affluence (final consumption per capita) and population. To this end, we construct a detailed multi-regional input-output database featuring data on international trade between 186 countries to undertake a global structural decomposition analysis of a change in global Nr emissions from 1997-2017. Our analysis shows that nitrogen efficiency has improved over the assessed time-period, however affluence, final demand destination and population growth have resulted in an overall increase in Nr emissions. We provide a global perspective of the drivers of nitrogen emissions at a detailed country level, and breakdown the change in emissions into contribution from domestic footprint and rest-of-world footprint. We highlight that food production coupled with growing international trade is increasing Nr emissions worldwide.

Mining sector in the economic structure of South Kalimantan Province: direct and indirect impacts

Supporting sectors for sustainable economic development in a region can have a direct impact on GRDP and indirectly have an impact through strong backward and forward linkage to other economic sectors. Analysis of backward and forward linkages can be performed using input-output tables that describe the role of each sector in the regional economy. The abundance of coal resources in South Kalimantan Province makes the mining sector the largest contributor to GRDP. Coal is an export commodity that has a very large percentage of the total regional export value. The enormous impact on GRDP, both in terms of business fields and final demand, is not accompanied by strong linkages to other economic sectors. The existence of the mining sector is unable to stimulate production growth in the backward sector and is unable to fulfill the final demand of the forward sector. Restrictions on coal exports to fulfill domestic energy resource needs are able to make the mining sector of South Kalimantan Province a key sector to support sustainable regional economic development.

Relaxing the import proportionality assumption in multi-regional input–output modelling

In the absence of data on the destination industry of international trade flows most multi-regional input–output (MRIO) tables are based on the import proportionality assumption. Under this assumption imported commodities are proportionally distributed over the target sectors (individual industries and final demand categories) of an importing region. Here, we quantify the uncertainty arising from the import proportionality assumption on the four major environmental footprints of the different regions and industries represented in the MRIO database EXIOBASE. We randomise the global import flows by applying an algorithm that randomly assigns imported commodities block-wise to the target sectors of an importing region, while maintaining the trade balance. We find the variability of the national footprints in general below a coefficient of variation (CV) of 4%, except for the material, water and land footprints of highly trade-dependent and small economies. At the industry level the variability is higher with 25% of the footprints having a CV above 10% (carbon footprint), and above 30% (land, material and water footprint), respectively, with maximum CVs up to 394%. We provide a list of the variability of the national and industry environmental footprints in the Additional files so that MRIO scholars can check if an industry/region that is important in their study ranks high, so that either the database can be improved through adding more details on bilateral trade, or the uncertainty can be calculated and reported.

The driving force effect of trade embodied carbon emissions and embodied SO2 emissions transferred in resources-rich areas: A case study of Shanxi province

SDA (Structural Decomposition Analysis) model was applied to analyze the driving factors of embodied carbon and SO2 emissions transferred in Shanxi during 2007–2012 based on the input-output model from the perspectives of region and industry. The results showed that the change of embodied carbon emissions and embodied SO2 emissions of Shanxi and other regions were hindered by the carbon (sulfur) emissions strength effect, but promoted by the intermediate (final) demand scale effect, the intermediate (final) structure effect and the input-output structure effect. The carbon emissions strength effect had a significant contribution to reducing the embodied carbon emissions transferred from industries in Shanxi to other regions. The intermediate (final) demand scale effect was the driving factor to increase the embodied carbon emissions transferred from industries in Shanxi to other regions. The sulfur emissions strength effect was the only factor that reduced the embodied SO2 emissions transferred from Shanxi to other industries. The change of embodied carbon emissions from industries in other regions to Shanxi was hindered by the carbon emissions strength effect, but the input-output structure effect and final demand scale effect both increased the embodied carbon emissions from industries in other regions to Shanxi. The change of the embodied SO2 emissions transferred from industries in other regions to Shanxi was inhibited by the sulfur emissions strength effect, but the input-output structure effect, the intermediate demand structure effect and the final demand scale effect were both the driving force effect of increasing the embodied SO2 emissions transferred from industries in other regions to Shanxi. The corresponding suggestions and measures were put forward.

China’s carbon emissions structure and reduction potential on the supply-side and demand-side of energy: Under the background of four influencing factors

In recent years, the issues related to carbon emissions and environment have attracted extensive attentions. Considering four scenarios (the energy conversion, energy capital savings and loans, energy exports and cement production carbon emissions), this paper adopts the energy consumption method and input-output method to analyze China’s carbon emissions structure on the supply-side and demand-side of energy, and finally provides policy recommendations for China’s structural emission reduction. The results show that, if the four influencing factors were not considered, the measurement of carbon emissions from the final demand was 44.91% higher than the baseline scenario, 12.36% lower than the baseline scenario from intermediate demand, and 10.23% lower than the baseline scenario from the total. For China’s carbon emissions structure on the supply-side of energy, the carbon emissions from high-carbon energy, represented by raw coal, accounted for 66.805% of the total energy-related carbon emissions, while the carbon emissions from low-carbon energy, represented by natural gas, only accounted for 2.485%. For China’s carbon emissions structure on the demand-side of energy, the carbon emissions from intermediate demand (enterprise production) accounted for more than 95% of total energy-related carbon emissions, while the carbon emissions from final demand (residents and government use) accounted for less than 5%. For each specific industry in intermediate demand for energy, the heavy industry, electric power, fossil energy, and chemical industry have high carbon emissions and low carbon emissions efficiency. However, the agriculture, construction, light industry, and service are the opposite. Finally, we provide policy recommendations for improving the accuracy of carbon emissions measurement and carbon emissions efficiency.

Questioning Abenomics and a Keynesian Approach to Japan’s Deflation Problem via Input-Output Analysis

Japan’s economy has had chronic deflation and high public debt problems so that it has been trying to handle its problems based on either the demand-side or the supply-side for more than two decades. This paper suggests that a perspective of Keynesian-inspired Japanese economic policy may positively impact a specific part of the economy such as demand-side solutions, as mentioned in Keynes’ theory. The Japanese economy is examined by applying the Input-Output (I/O) method in which the aggregated eleven-sector is arranged by using statistical data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). Firstly, our analysis focuses mainly on the updated 2012 domestic I/O table in order to understand the Japanese economic structure by examining final demand elements and eleven sectors, associated with the Leontief method. Secondly, this paper then investigated comparing with Abenomics representing by a mix of the new Keynesian and neoliberal policies in order to comparatively analyzed between the current economic structure and the economic policy and lastly provided some discussions to figure out in perspective of how to solve some economic issues. Therefore, not only did this paper delineate three scenarios/keys through dominant final demand which account for the public consumption expenditures (PUCE) and the public gross fixed capital formation (PUGFC); the target of the growth rate -the automobile sector through PUGFC-, the employment rate -the commerce sector through PUCE-, and the import rate -the commerce sector through PUCE- based on the results of the data analyzed, but also comparatively examined Abenomics in order to provide some possible policy paths which highlight the demand-side remedies for the economic issues; structural reform in the fiscal sustainability, mainly wage increase (especially low and middle incomes), working practice (bringing back the mutual work environment), and fair tax system.

Critical supply chains for mitigating PM2.5 emission-related mortalities in India

Air pollution and its health-related effects are a major concern globally, and many people die from air pollution-related diseases each year. This study employed a structural path analysis combined with a health impact inventory database analysis to estimate the number of consumption-based PM2.5 emission-related deaths attributed to India’s power supply sector. We identified critical supply chain paths for direct (production) electricity use and indirect (consumption) use. We also considered both domestic and foreign final demand and its effect on PM2.5 emission-related deaths. Several conclusions could be drawn from our results. First, the effect of indirect electricity usage on PM2.5 emission-related deaths is approximately four times larger than that for direct usage. Second, a large percentage of pollution-related deaths can be attributed to India’s domestic final demand usage; however, electricity usage in the intermediate and final demand sectors is inextricably linked. Third, foreign final demand sectors from the Middle East, the USA, and China contribute indirectly toward PM2.5 emission-related deaths, specifically in the rice export supply chain. The results show that the Indian government should implement urgent measures to curb electricity use in rice supply chains in order to reduce the number of PM2.5 emission-related deaths.

A Comparative Time-Series Investigation of China and U.S. Manufacturing Industries’ Global Supply-Chain-Linked Economic, Mid and End-Point Environmental Impacts

Manufacturing activities of China and the U.S. account for a substantial portion of the global manufacturing output and environmental sustainability impacts. The two countries’ economies account for one third of the global economic output. Their supply chains are critically linked with and serve most of the production and service industries across the globe. Recent global trends in manufacturing necessitate a study that comparatively analyzes the two countries’ manufacturing industries from an economic and environmental perspective. In this paper, U.S. and China manufacturing industries were investigated to analyze the economic and mid and endpoint environmental impacts over a 20-year study period. The literature is abundant with single period and single country focused works, and this study contributes to the state-of-art by extending the temporal dimension to 20 years and spatial focus to the global economy (40 countries and rest of the world). In terms of the methodology, Multi-region input-output (MRIO) models were built using the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) as the primary database, global input-output tables, environmental impact and economic output multipliers, and manufacturing industries’ final demand. Twenty MRIO models, each comprised of 40 major economies and the rest of the world (ROW), were built to cover the global trade linkages, which yielded the global supply chain linked cradle-to-gate life cycle inventory (LCI) of economic outputs and environmental impacts. The environmental LCI was extended to midpoint (Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP)) and endpoint (human health and ecosystem) impact dimensions by ReCipe framework. Lastly, the relative impact of a unit change in Leontief inverse, final demand and Green House Gas (GHG) emission multipliers on the total economic output and environmental impacts were explored with structural decomposition analysis (SDA). Results indicated that both countries’ manufacturing industries experienced positive economic output growth, in which China was more dominant in recent years. Both countries’ manufacturing industries’ midpoint and endpoint impacts were found to be steeply rising despite the negative growth observed in emissions intensities. The amount of GHG emissions and related midpoint (global warming and ozone depletion) and endpoint (damage to ecosystems and human life) impacts seemed to be quickly worsening in China compared to the USA.