Relaxing the import proportionality assumption in multi-regional input–output modelling

Simon Schulte (), Arthur Jakobs and Stefan Pauliuk
Additional contact information
Simon Schulte: Industrial Ecology, University of Freiburg
Arthur Jakobs: Industrial Ecology, University of Freiburg
Stefan Pauliuk: Industrial Ecology, University of Freiburg

Journal of Economic Structures, 2021, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: Abstract In the absence of data on the destination industry of international trade flows most multi-regional input–output (MRIO) tables are based on the import proportionality assumption. Under this assumption imported commodities are proportionally distributed over the target sectors (individual industries and final demand categories) of an importing region. Here, we quantify the uncertainty arising from the import proportionality assumption on the four major environmental footprints of the different regions and industries represented in the MRIO database EXIOBASE. We randomise the global import flows by applying an algorithm that randomly assigns imported commodities block-wise to the target sectors of an importing region, while maintaining the trade balance. We find the variability of the national footprints in general below a coefficient of variation (CV) of 4%, except for the material, water and land footprints of highly trade-dependent and small economies. At the industry level the variability is higher with 25% of the footprints having a CV above 10% (carbon footprint), and above 30% (land, material and water footprint), respectively, with maximum CVs up to 394%. We provide a list of the variability of the national and industry environmental footprints in the Additional files so that MRIO scholars can check if an industry/region that is important in their study ranks high, so that either the database can be improved through adding more details on bilateral trade, or the uncertainty can be calculated and reported.

Keywords: Import proportionality assumption; Uncertainty; Environmentally-extended multi-regional input–output; Carbon footprint; Land footprint; Water footprint; Material footprint; Footprint analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40008-021-00250-8 Abstract (text/html)

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:spr:jecstr:v:10:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1186_s40008-021-00250-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/40008

DOI: 10.1186/s40008-021-00250-8

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Structures is currently edited by Shigemi Kagawa and Kazuhiko Nishimura

More articles in Journal of Economic Structures from Springer, Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().