Regional Distribution Of Production Research Articles

Livestock increasingly drove global agricultural emissions growth from 1910–2015

Emissions from agricultural activities constitute 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are hard to abate. Here, we present and analyze a consistent empirical assessment of global emissions from agricultural activities from 1910–2015. Agricultural emissions increased 3.5-fold from 1910–2015, from 1.9 to 6.7 GtCO2eq yr−1. CH4 emissions, emissions from enteric fermentation and from livestock products contributed the highest fractions of emissions by gases, processes, and products, respectively. A decomposition analysis quantifies the contribution of major drivers of agricultural emissions dynamics. It reveals that globally and across the entire period, changes in population, agricultural production per capita (‘output’), regional distribution of production (‘regional mix’), and composition of final products (‘product mix’, i.e. a shift towards livestock production) all contributed to increasing agricultural emissions. Conversely, declining emissions per unit of production (‘emissions intensity’), particularly for livestock, partly counterbalanced the emissions increase. Significant variations prevail across regions and time periods. Most notably, the composition of final products counteracted agricultural emissions increase from 1910–1950, but growing livestock production has become an increasingly important driver of emissions growth in more recent periods. This finding unravels that increases in livestock production offset the improvements in emissions intensity of industrial agricultural intensification. Our findings underscore the large potential of reducing livestock production and consumption for mitigating the climate impacts of agriculture.

Structural aspects of monetary integration: a global perspective

This introduction to the special issue on “structural aspects of monetary integration” relates recent debates about currency unions—in terms of Optimum Currency Area theory and of the credibility of economic policy—to structural aspects, such as the sectoral and regional distribution of production, the financial system, capital flows and the evolution of political institutions. The article presents the other papers which deal with these aspects in the context of the European Monetary Union, of debates about monetary integration in North America and disintegration in South America, and of tendencies towards monetary cooperation in East Asia.

A model of regional growth in developing countries with an application to Thailand

Chalmers J. A. (1975) A model of regional growth in developing countries with an application to Thailand, Reg. Studies 9, 231–241. A theoretical model is developed of the size, composition, and regional distribution of production for a developing country. The theory emphasizes the inter-relationships among the agricultural, industrial, and service sectors at both national and regional levels. The model is applied to Thailand and the major conclusion is that further regional divergence is likely. The principal implication is that any successful attempt to reduce interregional inequities is going to have to be heavy-handed and that the price, in terms of national growth, will be high.

The Bourgeois State and Regional Economic Development

In the last few decades, the role of the government in the regional distribution of production, in the economic development of new territories, in the execution of projects for the development of depressed and backward areas, and in the development of cities has become greater, with a simultaneous growth of state-monopoly capitalism in the USA. In connection with changes that have occurred in the location of productive forces and with further deterioration of the situation in already backward areas and the emergence of new poverty areas, these problems become the object not only of scientific investigation but also of federal and state economic policy.