IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v95y2013icp73-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does offshoring contribute to reducing domestic air emissions? Evidence from Belgian manufacturing

Author

Listed:
  • Michel, Bernhard

Abstract

Since the mid-90s, production-related air emissions in Belgian manufacturing have fallen substantially and it can be shown that the pace of the fall has been fastest for domestic intermediates. It is widely debated whether offshoring has played a role in this fall by replacing domestic intermediates by imported intermediates. This paper develops a decomposition analysis to measure the contribution of offshoring – the share of imported intermediates in total intermediates – to the fall in air emissions for domestic intermediates. Based on the results from this decomposition analysis, it was possible to calculate that 17% of the fall in greenhouse gas emissions, 6% of the fall in acidifying emissions and 7% of the fall in tropospheric precursor emissions in Belgian manufacturing between 1995 and 2007 can be attributed to offshoring.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel, Bernhard, 2013. "Does offshoring contribute to reducing domestic air emissions? Evidence from Belgian manufacturing," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 73-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:95:y:2013:i:c:p:73-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.08.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800913002620
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.08.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 1999. "The Impact of Outsourcing and High-Technology Capital on Wages: Estimates For the United States, 1979–1990," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 907-940.
    2. Feenstra, Robert C & Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Globalization, Outsourcing, and Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 240-245, May.
    3. Cadarso, María-Ángeles & López, Luis-Antonio & Gómez, Nuria & Tobarra, María-Ángeles, 2012. "International trade and shared environmental responsibility by sector. An application to the Spanish economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 221-235.
    4. Serrano, Mònica & Dietzenbacher, Erik, 2010. "Responsibility and trade emission balances: An evaluation of approaches," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2224-2232, September.
    5. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    6. Thomas Wiedmann & Richard Wood & Jan Minx & Manfred Lenzen & Dabo Guan & Rocky Harris, 2010. "A Carbon Footprint Time Series Of The Uk - Results From A Multi-Region Input-Output Model," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 19-42.
    7. Erik Dietzenbacher & Bart Los, 1998. "Structural Decomposition Techniques: Sense and Sensitivity," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(4), pages 307-324.
    8. Youguo Zhang, 2012. "Scale, Technique and Composition Effects in Trade-Related Carbon Emissions in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 371-389, March.
    9. Erik Dietzenbacher & Kakali Mukhopadhyay, 2007. "An Empirical Examination of the Pollution Haven Hypothesis for India: Towards a Green Leontief Paradox?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 36(4), pages 427-449, April.
    10. Arik Levinson, 2009. "Technology, International Trade, and Pollution from US Manufacturing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 2177-2192, December.
    11. Robert C. Johnson & Guillermo Noguera, 2012. "Fragmentation and Trade in Value Added over Four Decades," NBER Working Papers 18186, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Mary Amiti & Shang‐Jin Wei, 2009. "Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the US," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 203-220, February.
    13. Hoekstra, Rutger & van den Bergh, Jeroen C. J. M., 2003. "Comparing structural decomposition analysis and index," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 39-64, January.
    14. Koen De Backer & Norihiko Yamano, 2012. "International Comparative Evidence on Global Value Chains," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2012/3, OECD Publishing.
    15. Rutger Hoekstra & Jeroen van den Bergh, 2002. "Structural Decomposition Analysis of Physical Flows in the Economy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 23(3), pages 357-378, November.
    16. Bart Van den Cruyce, 2004. "Use Tables for Imported Goods and Valuation Matrices for Trade Margins— an Integrated Approach for the Compilation of the Belgian 1995 Input-Output Tables," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 33-61.
    17. Cadarso, María-Ángeles & López, Luis-Antonio & Gómez, Nuria & Tobarra, María-Ángeles, 2010. "CO2 emissions of international freight transport and offshoring: Measurement and allocation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1682-1694, June.
    18. Bart Hertveldt & Bernhard Michel, 2012. "Offshoring and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in Belgium," Working Papers CEB 12-020, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Werner Antweiler & Brian R. Copeland & M. Scott Taylor, 2001. "Is Free Trade Good for the Environment?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 877-908, September.
    20. Yunfeng, Yan & Laike, Yang, 2010. "China's foreign trade and climate change: A case study of CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 350-356, January.
    21. Alcantara, Vicent & Duarte, Rosa, 2004. "Comparison of energy intensities in European Union countries. Results of a structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 177-189, January.
    22. Peters, Glen P., 2008. "From production-based to consumption-based national emission inventories," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 13-23, March.
    23. Wiedmann, Thomas & Lenzen, Manfred & Turner, Karen & Barrett, John, 2007. "Examining the global environmental impact of regional consumption activities -- Part 2: Review of input-output models for the assessment of environmental impacts embodied in trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 15-26, February.
    24. Hummels, David & Ishii, Jun & Yi, Kei-Mu, 2001. "The nature and growth of vertical specialization in world trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 75-96, June.
    25. Satoshi Nakano & Asako Okamura & Norihisa Sakurai & Masayuki Suzuki & Yoshiaki Tojo & Norihiko Yamano, 2009. "The Measurement of CO2 Embodiments in International Trade: Evidence from the Harmonised Input-Output and Bilateral Trade Database," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2009/3, OECD Publishing.
    26. Wood, Richard, 2009. "Structural decomposition analysis of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4943-4948, November.
    27. Bart Hertveldt & Bernhard Klaus Michel, 2012. "Working Paper 07-12 - Offshoring and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in Belgium," Working Papers 1207, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    28. Ang, B.W. & Zhang, F.Q., 2000. "A survey of index decomposition analysis in energy and environmental studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1149-1176.
    29. Kander, Astrid & Lindmark, Magnus, 2006. "Foreign trade and declining pollution in Sweden: a decomposition analysis of long-term structural and technological effects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(13), pages 1590-1599, September.
    30. Deborah Winkler, 2010. "Services Offshoring and its Impact on Productivity and Employment: Evidence from Germany, 1995–2006," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(12), pages 1672-1701, December.
    31. Nadim Ahmad & Andrew Wyckoff, 2003. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions Embodied in International Trade of Goods," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2003/15, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yen Nhi Nguyen, 2023. "The Effect of Offshoring on Firm Emissions," Working Papers 2315, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    2. Ling Yang & Michael L. Lahr, 2019. "The Drivers of China’s Regional Carbon Emission Change—A Structural Decomposition Analysis from 1997 to 2007," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Wang, H. & Ang, B.W. & Su, Bin, 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of energy and emission intensities: Some methodological issues," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 47-63.
    4. Hongyun Han & Shu Wu, 2018. "Structural Change and Its Impact on the Energy Intensity of Agricultural Sector in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-23, December.
    5. Kjartan Steen-Olsen & Anne Owen & John Barrett & Dabo Guan & Edgar G. Hertwich & Manfred Lenzen & Thomas Wiedmann, 2016. "Accounting for value added embodied in trade and consumption: an intercomparison of global multiregional input--output databases," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 78-94, March.
    6. Takeshi Iida & Arijit Mukherjee, 2020. "Make and buy in a polluting industry," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(6), pages 1852-1874, December.
    7. Wang, Zhenguo & Su, Bin & Xie, Rui & Long, Haiyu, 2020. "China’s aggregate embodied CO2 emission intensity from 2007 to 2012: A multi-region multiplicative structural decomposition analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W. & Li, Yingzhu, 2019. "Structural path and decomposition analysis of aggregate embodied energy and emission intensities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 345-360.
    9. Wei Zhen & Quande Qin & Lei Jiang, 2022. "Heterogeneous Domestic Intermediate Input-Related Carbon Emissions in China’s Exports," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 81(3), pages 453-479, March.
    10. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2017. "Multiplicative structural decomposition analysis of aggregate embodied energy and emission intensities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 137-147.
    11. Inma Martínez-Zarzoso & Shampa Roy-Mukherjee & Finn-Ole Semrau & Anca M. Voicu, 2020. "Pollution Reduction by Rationalization in Indian Firms," Working Papers 2020.01, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    12. Rutger Hoekstra & Bernhard Michel & Sangwon Suh, 2016. "The emission cost of international sourcing: using structural decomposition analysis to calculate the contribution of international sourcing to CO 2 -emission growth," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 151-167, June.
    13. Matthew A. COLE & Robert R.J. ELLIOTT & OKUBO Toshihiro & Liyun ZHANG, 2017. "The Pollution Outsourcing Hypothesis: An empirical test for Japan," Discussion papers 17096, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. López, Luis Antonio & Arce, Guadalupe & Zafrilla, Jorge Enrique, 2013. "Parcelling virtual carbon in the pollution haven hypothesis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 177-186.
    2. Boya Zhang & Shukuan Bai & Yadong Ning & Tao Ding & Yan Zhang, 2020. "Emission Embodied in International Trade and Its Responsibility from the Perspective of Global Value Chain: Progress, Trends, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-26, April.
    3. Arto, Iñaki & Roca, Jordi & Serrano, Mònica, 2014. "Measuring emissions avoided by international trade: Accounting for price differences," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 93-100.
    4. Youguo Zhang, 2012. "Scale, Technique and Composition Effects in Trade-Related Carbon Emissions in China," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 371-389, March.
    5. Marco Sakai & Anne Owen & John Barrett, 2017. "The UK’s Emissions and Employment Footprints: Exploring the Trade-Offs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Cadarso, María-Ángeles & López, Luis-Antonio & Gómez, Nuria & Tobarra, María-Ángeles, 2010. "CO2 emissions of international freight transport and offshoring: Measurement and allocation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 1682-1694, June.
    7. Su, Bin & Ang, B.W., 2014. "Attribution of changes in the generalized Fisher index with application to embodied emission studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 778-786.
    8. Kurt Kratena & Ina Meyer, 2010. "CO2 Emissions Embodied in Austrian International Trade," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 39242, August.
    9. Cadarso, María-Ángeles & López, Luis-Antonio & Gómez, Nuria & Tobarra, María-Ángeles, 2012. "International trade and shared environmental responsibility by sector. An application to the Spanish economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 221-235.
    10. Cansino, José M. & Román, Rocío & Ordóñez, Manuel, 2016. "Main drivers of changes in CO2 emissions in the Spanish economy: A structural decomposition analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 150-159.
    11. Löschel, Andreas & Pothen, Frank & Schymura, Michael, 2015. "Peeling the onion: Analyzing aggregate, national and sectoral energy intensity in the European Union," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(S1), pages 63-75.
    12. Erik Dietzenbacher & Jesper Stage, 2006. "Mixing oil and water? Using hybrid input-output tables in a Structural decomposition analysis," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 85-95.
    13. Michael Schymura & Andreas Löschel, 2012. "Trade and the Environment: An Application of the WIOD Database," EcoMod2012 3948, EcoMod.
    14. Vinicius A. Vale & Fernando S. Perobelli & Ariaster B. Chimeli, 2018. "International trade, pollution, and economic structure: evidence on CO2 emissions for the North and the South," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Rahel Aichele, 2013. "Trade, Climate Policy and Carbon Leakage - Theory and Empirical Evidence," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 49.
    16. Zhang, Zengkai & Guo, Ju'e & Hewings, Geoffrey J.D., 2014. "The effects of direct trade within China on regional and national CO2 emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 161-175.
    17. Xu, Xueliu & Wang, Qian & Ran, Chenyang & Mu, Mingjie, 2021. "Is burden responsibility more effective? A value-added method for tracing worldwide carbon emissions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    18. Savona, Maria & Ciarli, Tommaso, 2019. "Structural Changes and Sustainability. A Selected Review of the Empirical Evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 244-260.
    19. Lorenzo Cresti & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2023. "Weak sectors and weak ties? Labour dependence and asymmetric positioning in GVCs," LEM Papers Series 2023/10, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    20. Yunfeng Yan & Laike Yang & Jan Priewe, 2011. "The Impact of China-EU Trade on Climate Change," Competence Centre on Money, Trade, Finance and Development 1102, Hochschule fuer Technik und Wirtschaft, Berlin.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:95:y:2013:i:c:p:73-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.