Multi-regional Input-output Database Research Articles

The critical role of the health-care sector in promoting employment for women and migrants in the EU. A multicountry input-output analysis

A disproportionate concentration of women in low-pay and low-status sectors is a trend that has grown in significance with the globalization of production systems. For the health and social care sector, this has interesting socio-spatial implications, particularly in terms of immigration, the dimensions of which are worth investigating. This study employs the novel extended multiregional input-output FIGARO database to estimate the employment-generating capacity of the sector in the EU28, with a focus on the gender and geographic origin of its workers. The analysis takes into account both indirect and induced effects and considers both cross-country and cross-sectoral linkages. The findings identify the healthcare sector as a key source of employment for both national and immigrant women in more than half of EU countries. At the same time, this sector contributes to the earnings disadvantage experienced by women, which suggest that equality policies should consider the sectoral distribution of employment.

Delineating the embodied CO2 emissions in Canada's exports: Routes, drivers, and paths

AbstractThis study combined the World Input–Output Database and Asian Development Bank's Multiregional Input–Output database to investigate Canada's embodied CO2 emissions in exports (EEE) for the period of 2000–2018. We examined the key drivers and paths through structural decomposition analysis and structural path analysis. First, the results showed that embodied emissions in the intermediate exports were the major contributor to Canada's EEE, and emission paths involving more than three countries were on the rise, indicating that the expansion of the global industrial supply chains has complicated the paths of Canada's EEE. Second, the factors such as emission intensity of sectors, export structure, and export scale, had varying influences on Canada's EEE over time. For several sectors, the benefit from reduced emission intensity was largely offset by the additional emissions from the increased export scale. Hence, the design of emission regulations should consider the heterogeneity of industrial sectors in order to mitigate emissions for the diverse industries in Canada. Third, energy and resource industries (e.g., electricity, petroleum, wood, metals, and so on) played an essential role in Canada's exports. A significant amount of embodied emissions was transferred from these sectors to the downstream sectors along the supply chain, indicating that abatement measures should be adopted from the whole life cycle perspective of a product/service through an integrated governance of the supply chain. This article met the requirements for a Gold–Silver JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

The shift of embodied energy flows among the Global South and Global North in the post-globalisation era

Concerns about the energy associated with the manufacturing of a product or service or so-called embodied energy in international trade have been increasing due to global energy shortages and environmental degradation. With globalisation slowing, the shifting global spatial patterns and driving forces of energy embodied in international trade deserve deeper investigation. Using the most up-to-date multi-regional input-output database (GTAP 11), we analyse the spatial pattern and driving forces of change for energy embodied in international trade among the Global North and South, namely developed and developing countries, from 2000 to 2019. The results show that North-North trade dominates global embodied energy transfers, although its dominance is waning. The growth of embodied energy transfers is shifting from South-North to South-South trade. Yet the difference in embodied energy transfers between the Global South to Global North remains huge. In further parsing the drivers behind embodied energy transfers, we find that the scale of trade was the primary driver of growth in global embodied energy transfers, but its effect was fading and even had a weak negative effect on North-North and North-South embodied energy transfers between 2014 and 2019. Energy intensity was the primary inhibitor of global embodied energy transfers but with a declining influence except for South-South trade in the later stage (−24.28% during 2014–2019). The role of trade structure effects on global embodied energy transfers became increasingly evident, especially in the later phase (2014–2019) for South-South (33.08%) and South-North trade (13.22%). In contrast, changes in production structure had a small impact on global embodied energy transfers. The findings show the importance of portraying embodied energy flows to help identify the main drivers and reemphasize the need to reduce energy consumption along global value chains.

Tracing carbon footprints to intermediate industries in the United Kingdom

Several decades of informed warnings about climate change have been insufficient to reverse trends of rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and ecological degradation. The global supply chains are increasingly complex, which has impaired discussions about the responsibility, power and agency of various actors for socio-ecological transition. Historically, environmental impact assessments have focused on the origin and consumption ends of supply chains, overlooking the role of powerful intermediate actors. In this study, we present a detailed analysis of the industrial contributors to the carbon footprint of United Kingdom's gross production using the multiregional input-output database EXIOBASE and product layer decomposition. We find that 54% of the GHG emissions associated with UK gross production in 2019 originate within four major source industries, including fossil fuel-based extraction, manufacturing and electricity, animal-based food, and air transport. Furthermore, the distribution of emissions and value added provides implications about mitigation capacity and spatial justice.

Identifying critical sectors in the restructuring of low-carbon global supply chains

Based on recent events in the world, global supply chain (GSC) restructuring has become an important issue for industries worldwide. To develop an effective CO2 reduction strategy through GSC restructuring, this study investigated the impacts of GSC restructuring in a specific sector on the industrial global carbon footprint. Through this process, this study developed a scenario-based hypothetical extraction method (HEM) into a practical and flexible framework with a focus on the reasonable scale of relevant GSC restructuring. As a case study, this study applied the practical HEM framework to a global multi-regional input output database in 2014 and estimated the impacts of restructuring major automotive GSCs on CO2 emissions. Based on the results, this study identified the Chinese electrical equipment sector and the Russian basic metals sector, both included in the automotive GSCs as key sectors (i.e., key suppliers) for low-carbon GSC restructuring. These sectors exhibited the largest CO2 reduction effects when targeted for relevant GSC restructuring. Additionally, this study highlighted the practical potential for CO2 reduction based on a reasonable scale of relevant GSC restructuring. Finally, based on the findings, this study discusses how policymakers should formulate trade policies that prioritize intermediate products to promote GSC restructuring toward low-carbon practices and proposes an effective approach to utilize the results as benchmarks for setting CO2 reduction targets or incentives in the context of GSC restructuring.

The Indirect Effects of Brexit on African, Caribbean, and Pacific Trade with the UK and EU

AbstractWe analyse the ‘indirect effects’ of Brexit on African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries’ exports that use the UK as a platform to access the EU market and vice versa. First, we use the EORA26 multi-region input–output database for 186 countries and 26 sectors to characterize the ACP domestic content embedded in bilateral trade between the UK and the EU. Second, we apply the GTAP-VA module to carry out a simulation of how the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement will impinge on 121 countries and 65 products. The results suggest that while ‘indirect effects’ on ACP countries’ exports may exist, their economic magnitude is small in aggregate because ACP countries supply only small amounts of inputs used in UK–EU bilateral trade. Our simulations also show that these effects may be offset by the likely increase in ACP domestic content in exports because of TCA friction, mainly towards the UK.

Speed of convergence in global value chains: Forward or backward linkage

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating uncertainty that potentially causes a decline in global trade. It hampers the catching-up processes of developing countries because they are already connected through global value chains (GVCs). This study investigates the speed of convergence in GVC participation. Furthermore, we propose a forward and backward GVC participation approach to trace domestic and foreign value-added contributions and to overcome overvaluation in gross exports. We compare forward and backward linkages and determine countries’ convergence speeds. We scrutinize stochastic, σ, and β-convergence using the system generalized method of moments; additionally, we use this method to address potential endogeneity issues. Using a dynamic panel approach, we investigate global convergence countries in GVCs and possible foreign direct investment (FDI) factors that may influence convergence. In addition, we analyze the early effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the convergence rate using the recent Asian Development Bank multi-regional input-output database that covers the period 2010–2019. The results illustrate convergence in both forward and backward GVC participation; however, the convergence speed varies among group countries. A group comprising countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other countries experiences faster convergence than advanced countries in forward GVC participation. In contrast, advanced countries experience faster convergence in backward GVC participation. Furthermore, the results reveal that FDI plays a significant role in GVC participation. Overall, The COVID-19 pandemic has decreased GVC participation on average.

Impact of digital input on enterprise green productivity: Micro evidence from the Chinese manufacturing industry

Digital input, as an important engine for high-quality development, has provided new impetus for green transformation and development of manufacturing enterprises. In this study, unique panel data samples matched from the Global Multi-regional Input-output Database from 2000 to 2014, the Chinese Industrial Enterprise database, and the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Pollution Database are used to estimate the green productivity of Chinese manufacturing enterprises by adopting a non-radial and non-angular SBM model that considers unexpected outputs. Furthermore, a panel Tobit model is adopted to empirically test the impact of digital input on the green productivity of manufacturing enterprises. The research results indicate that: (1) Digital input has a significant positive impact on the green productivity of manufacturing enterprises, and a series of robustness tests have confirmed this conclusion. This research conclusion provides micro evidence and empirical support for empowering the green transformation of manufacturing enterprises with digital economic development. (2) The heterogeneity analysis indicates that, for different enterprises, digital input contributes more significantly to green productivity in foreign-funded enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and larger-scale enterprises. Regarding industry types, digital input positively contributes to green productivity only in labor-intensive and knowledge-technology-intensive manufacturing enterprises. In terms of regions, the contribution of digital input to the green productivity of enterprises in the east and central regions and regions with higher levels of industrial agglomeration is more significant. Heterogeneity analysis from different perspectives can help optimize enterprise choice behavior and green transformation development strategies, thus achieving better digital empowerment. (3) Further mechanism tests reveal that digital input promotes the improvement of green productivity of manufacturing enterprises through the effects of technological progress, factor structure optimization, and innovation, thereby providing a feasible path for relying on digital transformation to promote the improvement of green productivity of manufacturing enterprises.

Burden of the global energy price crisis on households

The Russia–Ukraine conflict has triggered an energy crisis that directly affected household energy costs for heating, cooling and mobility and indirectly pushed up the costs of other goods and services throughout global supply chains. Here we bridge a global multi-regional input–output database with detailed household-expenditure data to model the direct and indirect impacts of increased energy prices on 201 expenditure groups in 116 countries. On the basis of a set of energy price scenarios, we show that total energy costs of households would increase by 62.6–112.9%, contributing to a 2.7–4.8% increase in household expenditures. The energy cost burdens across household groups vary due to differences in supply chain structure, consumption patterns and energy needs. Under the cost-of-living pressures, an additional 78 million–141 million people will potentially be pushed into extreme poverty. Targeted energy assistance can help vulnerable households during this crisis. We emphasize support for increased costs of necessities, especially for food. The Russia–Ukraine war triggered an energy crisis that affected the cost of many goods and services. Guan et al. model the direct and indirect impacts of increased energy prices across expenditure groups and countries, finding temporary increases in total household energy costs of 63–113% under different scenarios.

Coupling energy system models with multi-regional input-output models based on the make and use framework – insights from MESSAGEix and EXIOBASE

ABSTRACT Technology-rich integrated assessment models (IAMs) provide high resolution of the energy-related climate impacts, when exploring prospective climate change mitigation strategies. However, energy system models (ESMs), the core of integrated assessment models, usually ignore industrial linkages other than those related to energy. Furthermore, these models focus on climate change and neglect other environmental pressures. In this manuscript we present an approach for coupling ESMs with multiregional input–output models (MRIOs) based on the Make and Use framework. The main advantage of using the Make and Use framework can be seen in improving both models simultaneously. An exemplary case study is carried out for the energy system model of MESSAGEix and the multi-regional input–output database of EXIOBASE. We further elaborate on the methodology to illustrate the usefulness but also challenges of this approach. Finally, we identify further steps to be carried out toward systematic prospective analyzes.

Evaluating a hospital’s carbon footprint – A method using energy, materials and financial data

Background: Healthcare systems have to prepare for climate change’s health impact, while reducing healthcare’s contribution to global warming. Most evaluations of healthcare’s greenhouse gas emissions involve national level methodologies.Objective: As sustainability metrics become a key factor in hospital management, the paper describes a method for quantifying emissions at a large tertiary care hospital in Singapore.Methods: Hospital operational and financial data was used to determine the greenhouse gas effect of the hospital. Emission factors from government and academic sources were used for on-site and purchased energy emissions. Spend based emission factors from the environmentally-extended multiregional input-output (EE-MRIO) Eora database were used for other indirect emissions. This provided the total carbon footprint across the various scopes.Results:The hospital had an annual carbon footprint of 245,962 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). Scope 1 emissions accounted for 4,223 tonnes of CO2e, scope 2 for 38,380 tonnes of CO2e and scope 3 for 165,190 tonnes of CO2e. Operating carbon totalled 207,793 tonnes of CO2e, and 38,169 tonnes of scope 3 CO2e was attributed to capital expenditure projects. Medical equipment, pharmaceutical supplies and electricity were the largest contributors to the hospital’s carbon footprint.Conclusions: Identifying key areas contributing to emissions can enable targeted approaches in reducing a hospital’s carbon footprint, better preparing the hospital as the carbon economy evolves to include the healthcare sector.

Hotspots of Mining-Related Biodiversity Loss in Global Supply Chains and the Potential for Reduction through Renewable Electricity.

Anticipated infrastructure growth and energy transition may exacerbate biodiversity loss through increased demand for mining products. This study uses an enhanced multiregional input-output database (REX, Resolved EXIOBASE) and supply chain impact mapping (SCIM) method to assess global biodiversity loss associated with mining-related land use. We identify hotspots in the supply chain of mining products, compare the impact of fossil and renewable electricity, and estimate the share of mining in total global impacts. We found that half of the global mining-related biodiversity loss occurs in Indonesia, Australia, and New Caledonia. Major international trade flows of embodied biodiversity loss involve Indonesia's coal exports to China and India, New Caledonia's nickel exports to Japan and Australia, and Australia's iron and bauxite exports to China. Key end-consumers include China's growing infrastructure and the EU's and USA's household consumption. Electricity generation accounted for 10% of global mining-related biodiversity loss in 2014. The impact of coal-fired electricity was 10 times higher than that of renewables per unit of electricity generated. Globally, mining contributes to less than 1% of the total land use-related biodiversity loss, which is dominated by agriculture. Our results provide transparency in sourcing more sustainable mining products and underline synergies in fostering renewables to meet local biodiversity and global climate targets.

The Employment Effects of Technology, Trade, and Consumption in Global Value Chains: Evidence for Developing Asia

Global value chains (GVCs) have been a vehicle for job creation in developing Asia, but technology can also displace workers through automation or reshoring of production. We use an input–output approach to examine how employment responded to consumption, trade, and technological progress in 16 economies that accounted for about 95% of employment in developing Asia from 2008 to 2018. Structural decomposition analysis based on the Asian Development Bank’s Multiregional Input–Output database combined with harmonized cross-economy occupation by industry data indicates that, other things being equal, technological change within GVCs and task relocation relate to a decline of routine manual, relative to nonroutine cognitive, occupations in manufacturing. We find no evidence of major shifts in labor demand due to reshoring. Domestic consumption expenditure of goods and services is associated with an increase in labor demand that is large enough to offset efficiency changes in GVCs.

Spatial correlation network characteristics of embodied carbon transfer in global agricultural trade.

Agricultural carbon emission is an important cause of climate change, and the carbon transfer caused by agricultural trade is a key area related to carbon emissions of all countries. Based on the Eora database, this paper aims to constructs a multi-region input–output database of 185 countries or regions, analyzes a spatial correlation network of embodied net carbon transfer in global agricultural trade by using UCINET, selects multi-dimensional network measurement indicators, and comprehensively studies the global evolution characteristics and functional features of network plate role of embodied carbon transfer in the global agricultural trade. The result shows that the embodied net carbon transfer network of global agricultural trade is densely connected, the spatial correlation spillover effect is significant, and the edge of the network core structure is clear. On the one hand, the top four countries or regions in terms of embodied carbon outflow in agricultural trade are the USA, Australia, Vietnam, and China. On the other hand, the top four countries or regions of embodied carbon inflow are Malaysia, Central Africa, Singapore, and Serbia. From the perspective of outdegree, indegree, proximity centrality, and intermediary centrality, Cambodia, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Ghana, and South Africa, with the high frequency of the shortest path of the globally embodied net carbon transfer network, have a strong influence and linking facility in spatial correlation and have a strong control ability to the spatial correlation of other countries or regions. The embodied carbon emission network of global agricultural trade can be divided into four sectors: main spillover, two-way spillover, broker, and main benefit. The main spillover segment, constituted by the USA, India, Germany, and China, has significant embodied carbon spillover effects on the internal segment and other segments. It is the main embodied carbon spillover sector of embodied net carbon transfer of global agricultural trade. Countries should reasonably allocate the responsibility of carbon reduction according to the trading embodied carbon transfer and made efforts to optimize the export structure of agricultural products.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-022-22337-w.

Comparison of the RCA Between China and KOR: From the Perspective of Value-Added

Purpose - This paper empirically explores the RCA of electrical equipment trade between China and Korea from the perspective of gross trade and value-added trade. The goal of this paper is to scan the electrical equipment's RCA, the decomposition of gross exports, and the impacts of an exerted shock.
 Design/methodology - We applied the domestic value-added method in measuring the RCA, which could be more accurate than traditional RCA since it excludes foreign value-added. Based on the research purpose, this paper follows the framework of Koopman, Wang, and Wei (2014)—as extended by Wang, Wei, and Zhu (2018). It extracts the data from the 2019 Multi-regional Input-Output (MRIO) databases compiled by the Asian Development Bank in January 2021.
 Findings - After rigorous examination, the main findings are as follows: First, the electrical equipment sector maintains a consistent comparative advantage in either assessing method. Second, China exports more gross goods of electrical equipment to the world than South Korea does, but there is a trade deficit with Korea. Third, South Korea and P.R. China are the most significant bilateral partners of foreign value-added sourcing. Finally, it is surprising that there is a shock on electrical equipment; the partner’s service, as well as manufacturing sectors, would be affected.
 Originality/value - This paper explores the revealed comparative advantage between Korea and China from traditional gross export and value-added perspectives. Second, we apply the information from the 2019 MRIO database compiled by the Asian Development Bank in January 2021, reflecting the current situation. Third, this paper analyzes the electrical equipment and the impacts on other parties’ sectors. Finally, we carry out the subjects that deserve to be investigated in the future.

Disaggregating Agro-Food Sectors in the GTAP Data Base

We discuss the construction of the GTAP-AGROFOOD database for CGE modelling which is consistent with the standard GTAP Data Base Version 10a (Aguiar et al. 2019). GTAP-AGROFOOD departs from the full detail of 141 regions, 65 products and 8 factors in GTAP, by introducing 51 additional agro-food products and sectors in lieu of 11 original GTAP agro-food products, thereby yielding a database with 105 products. Such additional detail can improve and enrich, for instance, analysis of trade, bio-economy or climate change mitigation or adaptation issues. It also eases linkage to other, more detailed data sets, such as for nutrition accounting or irrigation water use. The main data sources used are the FABIO Multi-Regional Input-Output Database (Bruckner et al. 2019) which reports on production, land, seed, feed, and food use, mainly for primary agricultural products, and market balances for dairy products from FAOSTAT. They are combined with TASTE V10a (Pelikan et al. 2020) which provides bilateral trade and tariffs revenues at the level of tariff lines. The balancing methodology which ensures consistency with the GTAP Data Base is based on the linear loss based split utility of CGEBox (Britz 2021).

Does global value chain participation and positioning in the agriculture and food sectors affect economic performance? A global assessment

The availability of aggregate data on trade in value added provides an unprecedented opportunity to carry out a global empirical assessment of the geography of global value chains (GVCs) in the agriculture and food sectors and their relative economic importance for the “Global South”. To study GVCs worldwide, we use the broad sample of 189 countries for the period 1995–2015 in the multi-region input-output EORA database in which all continents and income-levels are more properly represented. Specifically, we compute GVC participation and positioning indicators for agriculture and food sectors to test their effects on changes in agriculture value added per worker. To this end, we apply a macro version of the reduced form of the standard constant returns to scale Cobb-Douglas production function with labour, land, capital, augmented with GVC indicators. Results show that changes in GVC participation are, on average and ceteris paribus, positively associated with changes in agriculture value added per worker, net to time-invariant confounders. In contrast, upstream positioning is found to be negatively associated with agriculture value added, on average and ceteris paribus. The presence of heterogeneity by geographical location confirms that a general universal relationship does not exist. These outcomes provide valuable empirical-based insights for policymaking.

Japan-AfCFTA Integration through Economic Impacts of Alternative EPA Scenarios -Examination of the GTAP 10A MRIO Database

This paper analyzes the impact on an economic partnership agreement (EPA) between African countries and Japan through trade liberalization and reduction in non-tariff barriers. This study aims to investigate sectoral interconnections and participation in the EPA that would facilitate further possible opportunities for the JapanAfrican businesses. The methodology employed is the Computable General Equilibrium model integrated with the Global Trade Analysis Project version 10A Multi-Region Input-Output database. We first modified the GTAP’s structure form to develop a long-run closure under steady-state and thereafter examined the African Continental Free Trade Area-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (AfJEPA) with several EPAs scenarios relying on the quantitative comparison of economic impacts of different technical measurements. As a result, the AfJEPA can provide new possible opportunities for Africa-Japan businesses, such as contributing to the existing African and Japanese mega-regional trade agreements. Specifically, the electronics, petroleum and coal, and chemical, rubber, and plastic industries in Africa would see the highest percent growth. Likewise, the Japanese industries would improve their productivity in the motor vehicles and transport equipment, chemical, rubber, and plastic, and textiles and apparel industries. To sum up, trade facilitation and knowledge transfer, which policymakers can improve concrete action and investment, would considerably stimulate African and Japanese real GDP. Thus, potential growth would rely on deep regulation policy through a degree of openness and initial level of trade barriers to each country.

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 to 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.

Linking land use inventories to biodiversity impact assessment methods

There is generally a mismatch in the land use classification of life cycle inventory (LCI) databases and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods. This mismatch can hinder the proper assessment of land use impacts on biodiversity. To facilitate such assessments, we matched the land use classes of two global LCIA methods to five widely used LCI databases, one LCI nomenclature, and one multi-regional input–output database. In unclear cases, we assumed the worst case. Assumptions were especially necessary for unspecified land use intensity classes. We conclude with recommendations for LCI database and LCIA method developers.