Assessing the value of forestry to the Irish economy -- An input-output approach

Áine Ní Dhubháin, Marie-Christine Fléchard, Richard Moloney and Deirdre O'Connor

Forest Policy and Economics, 2009, vol. 11, issue 1, 50-55

Abstract: Input-output analysis was used to evaluate the total economic impact (i.e. the sum of the direct, indirect and induced impacts) of the forestry and wood products sectors on the Irish economy. The total impact of the forestry sector on a number of regional economies was also examined, as were the short-term economic consequences of an afforestation scenario. Only economic activity associated with timber production was considered, and externalities associated with the sector were not accounted for. The results show that in 2003, forestry produced a direct output of [euro]255.4Â million. For every euro of output from forestry, a further [euro]0.85 of economic activity was generated, yielding a total output of [euro]472.4Â million and total employment level of 7182. The wood products sector generated a total output of [euro]1.6Â billion and a total employment level of 12,246. These estimates of the economic impact of the forestry and wood products sectors cannot be added due to an overlap in indirect and induced impacts. The gross total value of an afforestation programme amounting to 15,000Â ha per annum over 5Â years was shown to be [euro]475.0Â million. Accounting for the fact that almost all land currently afforested is in agriculture, the net total value of this afforestation programme ranged from [euro]157.8Â million to [euro]340.4Â million, depending on the farming system being replaced and whether stacking of direct payments to farmers under the Single Payment Scheme applies to the land being planted.

Keywords: Input-output; analysis; Ireland; Afforestation; scenarios; Multipliers; Forestry; Wood; products (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389-9341(08)00078-6
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:forpol:v:11:y:2009:i:1:p:50-55

Access Statistics for this article

Forest Policy and Economics is currently edited by M. Krott

More articles in Forest Policy and Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().