Intersectoral Transfers Research Articles

Multisectoral water‑carbon pressures and economic benefits in China: An embodied perspective driven by consumption

Developing nations encounter considerable resource and environmental pressures, exhibiting diverse levels of decoupling relationships between resource-environment consumption and economic performance in different sectors. Nevertheless, there has been insufficient scrutiny from the perspective of embodied water‑carbon within the national economic system, particularly long-term analysis. This study proposes a three-stage analytical approach integrating measurement, decoupling, and decomposition modules to track such pressures, relationships and driving factors. Within this framework, a water‑carbon extended input-output model is constructed to quantify the embodied water‑carbon structure and inter-sectoral transfers between 2010 and 2020. The main findings are: a) Over the past decade, the composite water‑carbon pressure index of the energy sector has increased from 2.94 to 3.24, making it the only sector experiencing water‑carbon dual pressure in China. The service sector exhibits the lowest embodied water‑carbon pressure, boasting an average pressure index of 0.24. b) The OECD decoupling factor between embodied water consumption and economic growth in the entire national economic system increased from 0.37 to 0.40, achieving a transition from relative decoupling to absolute decoupling. However, a significant coupling relationship persists concerning CO2 emissions. c) Technological innovation primarily drives the decoupling of embodied water consumption in most sectors. Structural driving factors play an increasingly significant role in decoupling multisectoral carbon emissions and economic benefits. Strengthening technological innovation to improve multisectoral water use efficiency is still the most effective way to promote deep decoupling of water consumption within the industrial system. Achieving deep decoupling of carbon emissions necessitates both short-term technological innovation such as low-carbon process modification and long-term structural transformation such as green industrial restructuring. Differentiated findings can help identify potential sustainable development strategies for China's industrial system under resource and environmental constraints.

Income-based U.S. household carbon footprints (1990–2019) offer new insights on emissions inequality and climate finance

Current policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase adaptation and mitigation funding are insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. It is clear that further action is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and achieve a just climate future. Here, we offer a new perspective on emissions responsibility and climate finance by conducting an environmentally extended input output analysis that links 30 years (1990–2019) of United States (U.S.) household-level income data to the emissions generated in creating that income. To do this we draw on over 2.8 billion inter-sectoral transfers from the Eora MRIO database to calculate both supplier- and producer-based GHG emissions intensities and connect these with detailed income and demographic data for over 5 million U.S. individuals in the IPUMS Current Population Survey. We find significant and growing emissions inequality that cuts across economic and racial lines. In 2019, fully 40% of total U.S. emissions were associated with income flows to the highest earning 10% of households. Among the highest earning 1% of households (whose income is linked to 15–17% of national emissions) investment holdings account for 38–43% of their emissions. Even when allowing for a considerable range of investment strategies, passive income accruing to this group is a major factor shaping the U.S. emissions distribution. Results suggest an alternative income or shareholder-based carbon tax, focused on investments, may have equity advantages over traditional consumer-facing cap-and-trade or carbon tax options and be a useful policy tool to encourage decarbonization while raising revenue for climate finance.

Intersectoral transfers and drivers of net CO2 emissions in China incorporating sources and sinks

For China to achieve carbon neutrality, the intersectoral transfers and drivers of net CO2 emissions (NCE) must be thoroughly and accurately investigated. However, it appears that no research has been conducted on NCE from a sectoral perspective. Therefore, this study accounts for the NCE in 24 sectors, including the household sector. Then, an improved environmental semi-closed input–output analysis (ESIOA) method is proposed to integrate CO2 sources and CO2 sinks into a unified analytical framework, which provides an effective tool for direct research on NCE. Using the improved ESIOA method, this study investigates the intersectoral transfers and underlying drivers of NCE in China from 2010 to 2018. The results would serve as a targeted reference for the carbon neutrality path. The results reveal that NCE increased by 28.76 % during this period, with the embodied NCE concentrated in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Intermediate uses, rather than final demand, are responsible for most embodied NCE. The two paths associated with the construction sector were important production chains for the reduction in NCE. The expansion of final demand was the key driver of the increase in NCE, while technological progress played an important role in the decrease in NCE.

Sobreapreciação da taxa de câmbio e transferências intersetoriais da renda fundiária no Uruguai: 1955-2019

ABSTRACT This paper measures with a novel methodology the amount of agrarian ground rent intersectoral transfers in Uruguay and its relative weight in the national amount of surplus value during the period 1955-2019. In order to this, the paper identifies the mechanisms through which ground rent is transferred from landowners to industrial and commercial capitals. The main results show that agrarian ground rent transfers, in particular through exchange rate overvaluation, was a recurring mechanism that has been central for capital accumulation. These transfers complement the surplus value appropriated by individual capitals, however, at the same time, consolidate the rentier nature of Uruguay due to the chronic overvaluation of exchange rate.

Valuing Households’ Willingness to Pay for Water Transfers from the Irrigation Sector: A Case Study of the City of Seville (Southern Spain)

Water scarcity is increasing in many countries worldwide, and conflicts between alternative uses have arisen due to the high demand and the effects of climate change, among other factors. This paper employs a contingent valuation (CV) method to determine households’ willingness to pay (WTP) compensation to the irrigation sector to guarantee urban supply reliability under extreme water-scarcity conditions (e.g., during a drought period) through inter-sectoral water transfers. The data was obtained from a survey covering 250 households in the city of Seville. In order to estimate households’ WTP, a double-bounded approach is used. Results show that the average WTP would be between 2.53 and 2.59 euros (on a monthly basis), which would represent a viable annual water transfer of 14.3 Hm3 from the irrigation sector, which would be compensated accordingly. This study shows that inter-sectoral water transfers should be considered a viable adaptation measure to manage the consequences of water scarcity in urban areas.

More water exchange, less water scarcity? Driving factors from conventional and reclaimed water swap between agricultural and urban-tourism activities in Alicante, Spain

ABSTRACTWater-related hazards such as water scarcity may be mitigated by considering interbasin and intersectoral transfers of freshwater, and by promoting the use of non-conventional water resources. This paper deepens on key driving factors able to define the benefits and barriers of a water exchange among agricultural and urban-tourism activities as a mechanism to reduce water scarcity risk in the Marina Baja county, in Alicante (Spain). Thematic analysis through semi-structured interviews with the Marina Baja Water Consortium and the Canal Bajo del Algar irrigators’ community has been conducted based on their role in promoting integrated management of water resources. Results highlighted how water management, water quality, and water charging are the three main issues to be considered when promoting water exchange between agricultural and urban-tourist activities. Learnings could be used to customize interventions at a regional scale when promoting water exchange between confronted water uses in water scarcity regions.

Dysfunction by design: Consequences of limitations on transferability of catch shares in the Alaska pollock fishery

Abstract The Eastern Bering Sea fishery for pollock is one of the largest fisheries in the world and has often been touted as an example of sustainable fisheries management. Yet, sustainability requires more than protection of the biological productivity of the targeted fish species. It requires preservation of the flows of net social and economic benefits of the fishery, and flexible governance and management institutions that allow for adaptation to changes in fish abundance as well as changes in consumer demand and in the prices of key inputs. From an economic perspective, the Alaska pollock fishery was unsustainable before passage of the American Fisheries Act (AFA) in 1998. The AFA permanently divided the pollock Total Allowable Catch (TAC) giving a 10% allocation to the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program and partitioning the remainder among four fishing sectors. It allowed CDQ to be leased to any sector but largely prohibited leasing or sale between other sectors. These limits on intersectoral transfers have reduced the ability of sectors to respond to changes in the abundance and distribution of pollock, implementation of management measures intended to benefit other species, and changes in the prices of input factors and products. This paper explores these consequences.

From the 'Miracle' to the 'Lost Decade': intersectoral transfers and external credit in the Brazilian economy

The present paper examines the Brazilian experience from the 'Economic Miracle' to the 'Lost Decade'. Its aim is to advance an alternative measurement of the flows of extraordinary wealth (i.e. ground-rent and net external credit) available for appropriation in the Brazilian economy and to asses their relevance in sustaining the process of accumulation of industrial capital. That is done in order to provide further and more accurate evidence to the claim that the evolution of the Brazilian process of capital accumulation has been extremely dependent on the evolution of those masses of extraordinary wealth.

Adapting to intersectoral transfers in the Zhanghe Irrigation System, China: Part I. In-system storage characteristics

The Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS), in Central China, has drawn attention internationally because it managed to sustain its rice production in the face of a dramatic reallocation of water to cities, industries and hydropower uses. Ponds, the small reservoirs ubiquitous in the area, are hypothesized to have been instrumental in this. Ponds are recharged by a combination of return flows from irrigation and runoff from catchment areas within the irrigated perimeter. They provide a flexible, local source of irrigation water to farmers. This paper assesses the storage capacity and some key hydrological properties of ponds in a major canal command within ZIS. Using remote sensing data (Landsat and IKONOS) and an area–volume relationship based on a field survey, we obtained an overall pond storage capacity of 96 mm (per unit irrigated area). A comparative analysis between 1978 and 2001 reveals that part of this capacity results from a very significant development of ponds (particularly in the smaller range of sizes) in the time interval, probably as a response to rapidly declining canal supplies. We developed a high-resolution digital elevation model from 1:10,000 topographic maps to support a GIS-based hydrological analysis. Pond catchments were delineated and found to extensively overlap, forming hydrological cascades of up to 15 units. In a 76-km 2 area within the irrigation system, we found an average of close to five ‘connected’ ponds downstream of each irrigated pixel. This high level of connectivity provides opportunities for multiple reuses of water as it flows along toposequences. A fundamental implication is that field ‘losses’ such as seepage and percolation do not necessarily represent losses at a larger scale. Such scale effects need to be adequately taken into account to avoid making wrong assumptions about water-saving interventions in irrigation.

Adapting to intersectoral transfers in the Zhanghe Irrigation System, China: Part II: Impacts of in-system storage on water balance and productivity

This paper investigates the impacts of farm ponds in a context of declining supplies in a major canal command within the Zhanghe Irrigation System (ZIS), in Central China. As dam supplies have been diverted to higher-valued uses (hydropower, cities and industry), farmers have responded by constructing small storages within their fields. These farm ponds have given them sufficient flexibility in water supply to practice varying forms of alternate wetting and drying irrigation for rice without compromising yields and incomes. Ponds are recharged by a combination of return flows from irrigation and runoff from catchment areas within the irrigated perimeter. Various scenarios of water supply incorporating the main reservoir, in-system reservoirs, farm ponds and irrigation practices were simulated using the OASIS model. OASIS integrates surface and groundwater flows, and contains a crop growth module to aggregate the impacts of different water management regimes. The modelling and sensitivity analysis show that further reductions in main reservoir supplies will have a negative effect on rice production in dry and average years, and that ponds have played a crucial role in adapting agriculture to reduced canal supplies. The flexibility allowed by the ponds has resulted in increased water productivity, except in high rainfall years, but net depletion has not decreased, as local supplies have substituted for water from the main reservoir. The study demonstrates the importance of properly accounting for return flows and the necessity to understand crop production in relation to the actual depletion of water (as evapotranspiration) within an irrigation system.

Water markets as a mechanism for intersectoral water transfers: the Elqui Basin in Chile

The Elqui River in north-central Chile provides water for a medium-sized urban area and a small but thriving irrigated agriculture sector. A number of factors combined to provide incentive for the municipal water company servicing the coastal urban area to purchase water-use rights from irrigators in the early 1990s. This transfer was a well-recorded example of Chilean water markets functioning as proponents had expected. And despite the elapsed time, and Chile’s favorable system of transferable water-use rights, these trades remain among the very few recorded cases of intersectoral trading in the country. By purchasing water rights this water supply company was able to reduce its cost of raw water provision. Economic analysis of this transfer showed relatively modest economic gains from trade. Although, the value of water in municipal water supply is high, the value of water to profitable farmers is also high. The construction of the Puclaro Dam on the Elqui River demonstrates that the intersectoral water transfer that occurred in the early 1990s will not be the ultimate solution to the urban water supply needs of this urban area.

Endogenous Effort and Intersectoral Labour Transfers Under Industrialization

This paper takes as its point of departure the claim in the literature that strong Asian growth performance is accounted for largely by the accumulation of factor inputs (financial savings and human capital accumulation). This stands in sharp contrast to Polanyi’s (1944) interpretation of European growth being a “great transformation” from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Our objective is to find models in which intersectoral transfers in Asia do account for significant portions of observed growth performance, besides factor input growth and residually calculated productivity growth. We begin with traditional Lewis models, where an efficiency gain results from transferring labour from the traditional (family based) agricultural sector, in which labour receives its average product, to the modern (industrial) sector in which labourers are paid their marginal product. We show that as one moves closer to Pareto Optimality in this system (say bytaxing the traditional sector’s output), there is a gain but this is typically small. We then formulate Lewis type models in which the product of effort and labour enters each sector’s production function, and individuals in the traditional sector only receive a fraction of the return to their incremental effort due to average product pricing of labour. In this case, the level of effort in each sector, is endogenously determined along with the intersectoral allocation of labour, since the representative household is modeled as having a utility function defined over goods along with the disutility of effort. Differences in effort levels across sectors support accompanying differences in average and marginal products of labour. We use this model to analyze growth processes in Thailand and South Korea over the period between the 1960s and 1990s. Results suggest significant contributions to growth from intersectoral labour transfers in Lewis models with endogenous effort, and negligible contributions from models without endogenous effort

Doing the right thing with water: combining market-based principles with policy intervention for the sustainable management of water in agriculture.

Abstract The increasing importance of sustainability in natural resource management is drawing increasing attention, worldwide, to the role that policies can play in enhancing the management and allocative efficiency of water. Looking at various examples from the literature, we discuss some best practices that have been applied in a variety of empirical settings, while highlighting some of the pitfalls to avoid. We discuss the role that assigning water rights can play in creating the necessary incentives for market-based mechanisms of re-allocation to work for water management. We also emphasize the role that remains for centralized regulatory authority, and the need for collective action to ensure that essential ecosystem requirements are met. Among the variety of examples cited are those of inter-sectoral transfers, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater and tradable permit mechanisms for which we also highlight the enabling institutional requirements.

Multiple Choices: Rural Household Diversification and Japan's Path to Industrialization

Much of the historical literature on the forms of industrialization has assumed that agriculture and industry must develop along separate and specialized lines, linked only at the macro level through inter-sectoral resource transfers. This paper uses the Japanese historical case, combined with the recognition, in much work on contemporary developing and developed countries, of the significance of diversification as a rural household strategy, to argue that a pattern of industrialization based on micro-level complementarity between agricultural and non-agricultural activities is possible. After summarizing the changing characteristics of the diversification pursued by Japanese rural households since the nineteenth century, the paper seeks to demonstrate that technical and organizational change in agriculture and rural industry can be seen as conditioning each other to produce the inter-connected structure of flexible manufacturing and small-scale, ‘part-time’ farming on which the significant role of the rural sector in Japan's economic growth has been based.

Politiques d'ajustement et répartition des effets

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeAbstractThis article analyzes not only the various effects that the politics of adjustment have had in the developing countries but also the distribution of the adjustment costs among various social groups, especially the most vulnerable. In this regard, methodological problems arise with respect to information, boundaries, and attribution. Several effects can be differentiated in terms of international, intergenerational, intersectoral, and intergroup transfers. The impact of adjustment costs on the informal sector concerns the international financial networks. In the face of the social costs of adjustment, the task is not to propose an alternative model that would leave out the financial constraints, thus lapsing into voluntarism. Rather the task is to propose an iterative process that includes short, medium, and long term solutions to financial, economic, and social difficulties.

Agriculture in China's Modern Economic Development

List of tables, figures, and maps Preface 1. The role of agriculture 2. Planning and allocative efficiency 3. Prices and intersectoral resource transfers 4. Living standards and the distribution of income 5. Prospects for reform Appendixes Notes References Index.

Economic Growth and Distribution in China.

This study maintains that China's system of economic planning tends to mitigate the trade-off between economic growth and equity that has been found to prevail in the early stages of development in most less developed countries. The analysis focuses on the Chinese leadership's attempt to improve economic efficiency by decentralizing economic management without encouraging, as a consequence, increased economic inequality among different regions. By examining the budgetary and planning process, focusing in particular on the fiscal relations between the centre and the far-reaching degree of resource redistribution undertaken by the central government through its control of interprovincial and intersectoral resource transfers. Professor Lardy's analysis highlights the essential features of Chinese economic growth and relates these to the experience of both developing and Soviet-type economies.

A Note on the Sources and Uses of Funds in Thai Agriculture

In its research on the determinants and dynamics of economic growth that the National Planning Association has been conducting in Thailand and the Philippines, the concept which has come to be the focus of much of the field work is that of intersectoral resource transfers. In particular, the transfer of resources, both real and financial, from agriculture to industry is regarded as in many ways.. . the single most important concept in studying development economics as opposed to pure growth theory. 1 This paper will attempt to trace the forms which financial transfers out of agriculture took in Thailand in one recent year. Financial transfers are predominantly savings out of income. They are not necessarily the only, or even the most important, form in which resources can be transferred; but for open, export-oriented developing economies, intersectoral savings are particularly difficult to measure and trace. As a prelude to any meaningful analysis of the function of intersectoral transfers in development planning, it appears useful to devise a technique, however rudimentary, of checking the sector saving data derived from national accounts against an estimate of the assets into which such savings are converted. Agriculture is defined in the Thai national accounts as the value added from crops, livestock, fisheries, and forestry.2 It provides employment and income for at least three-fourths of the Thai labor force, and, though its relative share of the gross domestic product shows a declining trend, it still accounts for about a third of the annual domestic output. Savings out of this sector can be estimated either by calculating the difference between its income and expenditure, or, as attempted here, by estimating net changes of assets over time.

A Short-Term Planning Model for the Indian Economy

HE purpose of this paper is to present a T short-term planning model for the Indian economy. It involves (a) the formulation and implementation of an input-output model for India, closed with respect to all household consumption except that originating from government employees, and (b) an endogenous determination of the distribution of consumption expenditure among several groups of households, each group having a specific consumption pattern. The paper is divided into three sections. An attempt is made in section I to classify the economy into several sectors. In section II, we calculate the intersectoral transfers of intermediate products as well as final goods and services. Section III presents the planning model and considers the possibilities of using it for planning purposes.