A Re-Examination of the Structural Diversity of Biobased Activities and Regions across the EU
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Aragonese Agency for Research and Development (ARAID), Centre of Agro-Food Research Technology of Aragón (CITA), Avda Montañana, 930, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
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Centre of Agro-Food Research and Technology of Aragón (CITA), Avda Montañana, 930, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2018, 10(11), 4325; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114325
Received: 13 September 2018
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Revised: 9 November 2018
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Accepted: 15 November 2018
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Published: 21 November 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Bioeconomy)
This study evaluates the performance of European Union (EU) member state biobased activities. More specifically, statistical clustering techniques, based on biobased sectors’ demand and supply driven multipliers, identify regional EU typologies of biobased sector performance. The aim is to establish sector-region combinations of biobased driven economic growth. The study employs a consistent macroeconomic accounting dataset, known as a social accounting matrix (SAM). The dataset (dubbed BioSAM), is enriched with detailed accounts for agrifood activities, as well as further contemporary sources and uses of biomass. The results identify cases where biobased activities are potentially important engines of growth, although this result varies considerably by EU region. Confirming previous literature, the influence of biobased sectors is very much dominated by demand driven economic growth, whilst one-in-three biobased activities is defined as ‘key’. Examining the regional EU cluster typologies, the ‘Eastern and Mediterranean’ region exhibits the strongest biobased wealth generation, whilst weak biobased economic performance is observed in the ‘Mediterranean Islands and Luxembourg’ regional cluster. Finally, a comparison with previous studies tentatively confirms that structural change, accelerated by the financial crisis, has elevated the relative economy-wide contribution of biobased sectors.
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Keywords:
European Union; biobased activities; social accounting matrix; structural multipliers; backward and forward linkages
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MDPI and ACS Style
Philippidis, G.; Sanjuán-López, A.I. A Re-Examination of the Structural Diversity of Biobased Activities and Regions across the EU. Sustainability 2018, 10, 4325. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114325
AMA Style
Philippidis G, Sanjuán-López AI. A Re-Examination of the Structural Diversity of Biobased Activities and Regions across the EU. Sustainability. 2018; 10(11):4325. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114325
Chicago/Turabian StylePhilippidis, George, and Ana I. Sanjuán-López. 2018. "A Re-Examination of the Structural Diversity of Biobased Activities and Regions across the EU" Sustainability 10, no. 11: 4325. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114325
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