A global synthesis of the economic multiplier effects of marine sectors

Abstract

As competition for use of the ocean increases, coastal managers must consider the economic impacts of competing marine sectors in decision-making processes. To capture the full extent of the economic impacts of marine industries, multiplier values can be used to estimate the sum of direct, indirect, and induced effects on associated industries. This study provides a global synthesis of multiplier effects on four economic indicators of eight marine sectors in regions of varying size and development status. The average multiplier was 1.82, indicating that every dollar generated by a direct marine industry leads to an additional 82 cents generated by associated industries. The industry of offshore energy and the economic indicator of revenue had the largest multiplier effects. No significant difference was found between multiplier values in developed and developing regions, and weak correlations were found between multiplier value and region size. This synthesis offers the first global view of the economic multiplier effects of marine industries and can serve as a tool to support city- to country-level marine industry development decisions throughout the world, especially where similar data are not available.