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Recreational Ecosystem Services (RES) are among the most frequently evaluated ecosystem services. RES are seen as a major opportunity for sustainable development in areas of high ecological value resulting from the presence of emblematic species, habitats or scenery, often integrated in conservation areas, in particular in mountain areas affected by depopulation, rising environmental risks and poverty. Economically, the assessment of RES has been based on Contingent Valuation and Choice Experiments, methods with limitations related to their subjectivity. Alternatively, Input-Output (IO) models provide a very accurate and effective way of valuation of RES with regional information regarding interindustry transactions. Whilst data on nature tourist expenditure may be only available annually, tourism inflows have a strong seasonal behavior, which impacts the profitability of several local economic activities. In this paper, we firstly constructed a novel regionalized IO-model based on Cross-Industry Location Quotients using employment data and, secondly, based on Monte Carlo simulation, we estimated nature tourist expenditure monthly using data on nature tourism inflows. This method allowed for a more precise RES evaluation, estimating direct, indirect and induced monthly economic impacts of nature-based tourism. The method was applied to the Ordesa and Monte Perdido (OMP) National Park in the Spanish Pyrenees. To estimate the average tourist expenditure, we collected and analyzed spending on commerce, hospitality and restaurants, leisure, and transport of 385 visitors. Results suggest that using a regionalized IO model leads to a considerable reduction of over-estimation of the economic impact of tourist expenditure estimated by conventional methods. Taking into consideration the direct, indirect and induced effects of tourist expenditure in 2016–2018, the total annual output effect in the OMP National Park amounted to €208.8 million, while the total income effect amounted to €86.29 million. Also, a total of 2,429 jobs were created which indicates that for each thousand annual visitors to the National Park, 3.8 jobs are created in the surrounding area. Overall, the proposed methodology can be easily applied to the remaining National Parks in Spain or other regions in the world, making it a valuable tool to estimate the value of RES in areas affects by strong seasonality, to set priorities and support regional policies for mountain sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain is on a path toward the decarbonization of the economy. This is mainly due to structural changes in the economy, where less energy-intensive sectors are gaining more relevance, and due to a higher use of less carbon-intensive primary energy products. This decarbonization trend is in fact more accentuated than that observed in the EU28, but there is still much to be done in order to reverse the huge increases in emissions that occurred in Spain prior to the 2007 crisis. The technical energy efficiency is improving in the Spanish economy at a higher rate than in the EU28, although all these gains are offset by the losses that the country suffers due to the inefficient use of the energy equipment. There is an installed energy infrastructure (in the energy-consumer side) in the Spanish economy that is not working at its maximum rated capacity, but which has very high fixed energy costs that reduce the observed energy efficiency and puts at risk the achievement of the emissions and energy consumption targets set by the European institutions. We arrive to these findings by developing a hybrid decomposition approach called input–output logarithmic mean Divisia index (IO-LMDI) decomposition method. With this methodological approach, we can provide an allocation diagram scheme for assigning the responsibility of primary energy requirements and carbon-dioxide emissions to the end-use sectors, including both economic and non-productive sectors. In addition, we analyze more potential influencing factors than those typically examined, we proceed in a way that reconciles energy intensity and energy efficiency metrics, and we are able to distinguish between technical and observed end-use energy efficiency taking into account potential rebound effects and other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop an alternative input–output approach and apply it to the determination of key sectors in emissions. This methodology allows us to assess and classify the different productive sectors according to their greenhouse gas emissions and the role that they play in the productive structure, as well as the participation of their output in the total volume of production. In contrast with previous approaches, we do not focus on the responsibility of final demand, but on the responsibility of the total production of each sector. We apply our methodology to the 2014 input–output table for Spain provided by the World Input–Output Database (2016). The results show that the sectors that induce more emissions from other sectors are manufacture of food products, wholesale and retail trade, and construction. Those that are pulled to emit coincide with those that are relevant for their own final demand, being the most important electricity and gas provision, agriculture, and transportation. The classification obtained allows to orient the design of greenhouse gas emission mitigation policies for the different sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth has different impacts on gender gaps. In recent decades the growing participation of women in the labour market has reduced the gender employment gap, however a notable gender pay gap still persists standing at around 15% on average in the European Union. In this context, this paper evaluates the impact of economic growth patterns on the evolution of gender employment and pay gaps. First, sectorial feminization, direct discrimination, and structural change factors are identified and evaluated as ways to explain changes observed in the gender pay gap. Second, we explore the influence of demand, technology, and intensity factors on the evolution of employment combining gender, skill, sectorial, and temporal perspectives. As a case study, we examine Spanish economic growth from 1980 to 2007 and the influences on the size, composition (by skill), and distribution (by sector) of female and male employment, as well as the consequences for gender gaps. Our results show that structural change contributed to reduce the gender employment gap in Spain; while the evolution of the gender pay gap is less conclusive, following a sort of inverted U-shape. This paper shows the suitability and potential of the multisectorial input–output framework to analyse structural and technological changes and their impacts on the gender employment and pay gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the construction and analysis of a disaggregated input-output model and its extension to a social accounting matrix (SAM) for the Spanish economy in 2013. Our focus is the specific disaggregation of the electricity industry into the generating, transmission, distribution and marketing businesses, which were decoupled in 1997 under legislation prohibiting any single company from conducting more than one of them. The multi-sectoral framework also allows disaggregation of electricity generating by production technologies (wind, nuclear, conventional thermal, hydropower, solar and other technologies). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper in which this information is presented in a multi-sectoral framework for the Spanish economy, which is enormously dependent on the electricity industry. The structural analysis reveals the industry's role in Spain and the importance of its activities. None of the electricity generating businesses is a Rasmussen key sector, and generating and distribution are both capital-intensive activities. Meanwhile, conventional thermal and hydropower generating together make up more than 50% of total output in value terms, while nuclear power accounts for only around 7%. Finally, imports and exports of electricity are small, and almost all demand is covered by domestic production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic and environmental policies and strategies are largely designed at the international, national or regional level, the environmental impacts of these measures are often felt at a more geographically-localized level. In particular, the effects on water resources, especially regarding water pollution and water stress, are usually localized in very specific hotspots. In this work, we acknowledge these facts and attempt to identify the linkages among the 17 regions in Spain (a semi-arid country with significant geographical variations in water availability), the European Union (EU), and the Rest of the World (RW), while also looking at the local effects of those interactions. In particular, we study the grey water footprints (a measure of the assimilation capacity of water resources) of production, at both the regional and business level, with spatially explicit information, and the extension of those footprints throughout the supply chain, while also computing the water footprints of consumption at the regional level. This process is a combination of a detailed computation of grey water footprints from production, from agriculture (from diffuse pollution), and from more general economic activities (from point source pollution), with a multiregional input–output model that encompasses the 17 Spanish Regions, the EU, and the RW. We also identify hotspots and vulnerable areas, linking the grey water footprints from production originating in these areas to final-consumer responsibilities. As an example of the potential of the combined methodology, we design and evaluate the effects on grey water footprints of scenarios of import substitutions in Spain. Our results show strong final demand in regions such as Madrid and Catalonia, and in net exporting regions such as Andalusia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Navarre. Some of these regions contain areas that are clearly vulnerable to nitrates and other pollutants, and parts of these regions, most obviously in Andalusia and Extremadura, suffer water stress, which leads us to question the sustainability of the relationships between the structure of production and trade and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making the link between the different economic scales-local, regional, and global-and the impacts associated with more global behavior is a natural extension of traditional environmentally extended input-output (I-O) modeling. In this article, we highlight the capabilities of combining the meso level (i.e., regional) I-O models with geographical information systems (GIS) and micro data to lower the spatial scale. This methodology lets us provide information to municipalities (what we call the micro scale) on their water footprints (WFs) at a lower spatial level than that of Spanish regions (what we call meso scale), at which economic I-O data are available. Based on a multiregional I-O model for the Spanish regions, we analyze the local water impacts of tourism activity in Spain. We focus on the explicit spatial identification of areas of strong final demand (normally the most populated) tracking back the associated footprints to the original hotspots or vulnerable areas (micro scale), where most water withdrawal had taken place. The spatial divergence between the production and the consumption responsibilities arise because consumers and producers usually have very different characteristics, particularly with respect to tourism. We find highest geographic dispersion of WFs of consumption arising from domestic tourism, followed by domestic household consumption, and finally foreign tourism WF. Foreign tourism WF is more concentrated in time and space. Foreign tourism in Andalusia requires directly and indirectly (WF) 617 cubic hectometers (hm3) and in Madrid 440 hm3, indicating that such tourism in both regions accounts for some of the highest water intensities per euro (€) spent by a foreign tourist, around 0.1 cubic meters/€. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of the construction sector in Spain over the last decade. Several indicators are constructed based on Input–Output tables that demonstrate that the importance attributed to this sector does not correspond to its true role in the overall Spanish economy. Although it is true that the construction industry is important for other sectors of the economy, it is also true that the sector shows indicators that are average for the Spanish economy and lower than those of the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study of the impact of economic activities on natural resources through global supply chains is increasingly demanded in the context of the growing globalization of economies and product fragmentation. Taking Spain as a case study and a sector with significant economic and environmental impacts, the agri-food industry, the objective of this work is two-fold. First, we estimate the associated water impact, both from the production and consumption perspectives, paying special attention to the water embodied in production exchanges among countries and sectors. To that aim, we use an environmentally-extended multiregional input-output model (MRIO). Second, we assess the main driving factors behind changes in direct and embodied water consumption between the years 1995 and 2009 by means of a structural decomposition analysis. The MRIO model provides a comprehensive estimate of the economic linkages among regions and economic sectors and, therefore, allows calculating the environmental impacts over international value chains. The results indicate that the food industry exerts large impacts on global water resources, particularly given the remarkable interactions with the domestic and foreign agricultural sectors, These growing linkages show how consumption patterns, and, therefore, lifestyles, involve large environmental impacts through the whole and global supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study complements the water footprint (WF) estimations for Spain, incorporating insights of the process analysis and input–output (IO) analysis. We evaluate the virtual (both blue and green consumed) water trade of agricultural and industrial products, but also of services, especially through tourism, for a country in which more than 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) derives from this activity. We use domestic and import disaggregated tables in the agro-alimentary activities, based mainly on national agrarian, industrial, services and trade statistics. In order to obtain import coefficients, water data and IO tables of the main trade partners are used to reproduce the technology of these economies. Results show that 16% of the Spanish exports are due to foreign tourism, thus the water footprint of foreign tourism in Spain is 3.7 km3. Finally, we compare reductions in total tourism expenditure and the domestic and global water footprint of tourism using four scenarios. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Drought is an economically important hazard for many countries, with the potential to cause large direct and indirect economic losses. Superimposed on this risk is the danger that future anthropogenic climate change poses. The study utilises projected estimates of direct drought losses, for a variety of different climate change scenarios, to assess how input–output analysis could be used to estimate indirect losses. Modifications were made to the adaptive regional input–output model to consider both the severity of individual drought events and the propagation of economic losses over time and applied to a case study of Spain. The study highlights the importance of the distribution of drought severity and direct losses over time when modelling indirect losses, emphasising a need to focus on time steps shorter than a year to model losses more comprehensively. The results suggest that annual drought losses in 2003–2050 could be up to 32 % higher for short-term droughts if indirect economic losses were considered and 57 % higher for longer-term droughts. Indirect losses were shown to increase nonlinearly over time and as emission scenarios became more severe. This suggests that the benefits of stringent mitigation policies in terms of avoided indirect losses may be more substantial than for direct losses in the second half of the twenty-first century. Whilst the estimates presented here are considered illustrative, the study highlights the importance of considering indirect economic losses for providing more comprehensive economic estimates of drought loss under future climate change and for assessing economic benefits of future mitigation and adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economics literature offers many examples of studies of the economic impact of transportation infrastructure such as highways, ports, and airports; however, little attention has been paid to other types of infrastructure such as logistics platforms. This article is a first assessment of the economic effects of the largest logistics platform in Europe – PLAZA, the Zaragoza Logistics Platform – located in Spain. More precisely, this paper analyzes the economic significance of PLAZA on the economy of the Aragon region where it is located. The methodology is based on the application of input–output analysis to the final demand of logistics platform-based companies in a manner that is similar to well-established studies of the economic impacts of tourism on tourist expenditure. This makes it possible to quantify the various levels of economic effects (direct, indirect, and induced) in terms of jobs, salaries, and wages, turnover, gross operating surplus (GOS), and gross value added (GVA). The conclusions reveal the economic importance PLAZA has for the regional economy of Aragon, representing just over 2% of total GVA and 3% of turnover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper proposes a multi-level approach to analyse the production chains in which two characteristic tourism activities – the hotel and travel agency industries – participate. Firstly, from a macroeconomic perspective, input-output techniques are used to identify the most significant tourism production chains from the regional input–output table of Andalusia (Spain). Secondly, from a microeconomic perspective, a different approach is taken based on the concept of Global Value Chains (GVC). In this respect, the structure and main agents participating in the tourism GVC are presented, and the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the hotel and travel agencies industries in Andalusia is put forward. Finally, these two approaches are compared and connected, exploring some characteristics of these tourism production chains at the mesoeconomic level of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology based on the input–output approach which allows us to identify the structural and technological responsibility of manufacturing sectors in electricity consumption. Sectors with a high structural responsibility are those whose products are strongly demanded by other sectors and this leads to a high electricity consumption/production. Sectors with a high technological responsibility are those whose technologies use inputs which directly or indirectly require much electricity independently of the composition of final demand in the economy. This methodology is applied to the manufacturing sectors in Spain. It is found out that the chemical sector and industries manufacturing metal products have a large structural responsibility, but their technological responsibility is low. In contrast, the mineral (non-metallic) sectors form a cluster of industries with a high technological responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to identify those sectors that contribute most to electricity consumption in Spain, using a methodology based on input–output tables, and to derive some recommendations aimed at increasing energy efficiency in those sectors. This input–output approach is complemented with a sector-focused study in which the availability of electricity-efficient technologies per sector and the barriers to their uptake are identified. This hybrid approach is deemed useful to derive policy implications. We thus propose several instruments to remove those barriers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Against the background of the water limitations that often appear in Spain, the aim of this paper is to study the behaviour of the productive sectors of the Spanish economy as direct and indirect consumers of water. To that end, we employ input–output analysis, with the particular methodology being based on the linkages analysis known as the Hypothetical Extraction Method (HEM). We have introduced three modifications to this method. First, the valuation is made in terms of water consumption. Secondly, we obtain the components of the impacts of each block of activity into which the economy is divided, with these components being described as the internal effect, mixed linkage, net or external backward linkage, and net or external forward linkage. Thirdly, this methodology is used to detect key sectors. Our results confirm the marked importance of the Agriculture, Food and Other Services blocks as regards the direct and indirect consumption of water in general. We also find that Other Services, Chemicals, Metals and Electronics and Agriculture blocks play an important role in explaining the consumption of drinking water. Moreover, the HEM analysis allows us to classify productive sectors according to their forward or backward linkage character in a way that is more precise than that permitted by earlier methods. Finally, this methodology can be extended to other types of environmental pressures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The study fills a gap in literature by breaking down the energy rebound effect. • The Spanish economy is taken as a case study. • The Direct Rebound Effect explains around 10% of the total effect. • Indirect Rebound Effect values range between 1.2% and 1.8%. • Economy-wide Rebound Effect values range from −4.51% to 128.45%, with no clear trend. The rebound effect caused by energy efficiency improvements demands greater attention from energy policymakers as it represents an important obstacle to energy consumption reduction measures. Despite the emerging literature about the rebound effect, no studies to date have managed to break down it. To do so, this study introduces the disruptive innovation of replacing the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method used in previous literature with Structural Decomposition Analysis. Based on Input-Output tables, a re-spending model allows us to assess the Indirect Rebound Effect for 14 productive sectors. Finally, Structural Decomposition Analysis enables us to determine the Economy-Wide Rebound Effect caused by energy efficiency improvements. As far as we are aware, no other study to date has done so. Spain is used as a case study for the 2000–2014 period. Major findings indicate that total rebound effect varies from nearly to 10% to around 50%. The part of rebound explained by Direct rebound effect is around 10%. Indirect rebound effect shows values between 1.2% and 1.8%. Finally, Economic wide rebound effect varies from −4.51% to around 40% but without showing a clear trend for the period considered. The novelty of this study is that it attempts to break the overall rebound effect down to the direct, indirect, and economic wide rebound effect by combining the Cobb-Douglas production function and decomposition techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Input-output subsystem analysis based on Ghosh model is developed. • This supply-driven model is extended to study the subsystem's GHG emissions. • An empirical analysis of GHG emissions applied to transport sector is carried out. • The supply-driven model is complementary of the demand-driven model. • Both models better identify activities responsible for the subsystem emissions. We develop an input–output subsystem analysis based on the Ghosh model to study the emissions of a sector given the productive structure of the economy. Our method complements the traditional subsystem analysis based on the demand-driven model by considering the emissions associated to the primary inputs of the subsystem. This is particularly relevant to study the emissions associated to the activity of sectors that produce mainly for other sectors. We apply both methodologies to analyze the transportation and storage subsystem emissions in Spain in 2014. The outcomes from the demand-driven model point to land and air transport as the main responsible for subsystem emissions, while the supply-driven model also considers storage sector as significant in explaining the subsystem emissions. When intermediate demand is relevant, the consideration of both models helps to better identify the activities responsible for the subsystem emissions, allowing for more accurate policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Input-Output model was applied to quantify and compare, for the first time in Europe, the economic contribution of marine recreational (MRF) and commercial fishing (MCF) to a regional economy (Asturias, Spain). The approach considers separately the commercial artisanal fishing (MCAF) and attempts to overcome traditional problems concerning the treatment of recreational expenditure and the direct comparability between these marine activities. Although final consumption by households of fish and sea products from MCF was similar to the final consumption of resident recreational fishermen (MRF) in 2010, commercial fishing supported more gross value added (GVA) and jobs than recreational fishing. Multipliers of final consumption show that MRF had slightly higher potential than MCF to induce the final output of the regional economy, and both of them show a similar effect on GVA; nevertheless, the multiplier effect on employment is greater in the professional sector, especially in the artisanal fleets. MRF and MCF private consumption jointly supported 0.25% of the regional GVA and 0.40% of the employment in 2010; however, the economic effect of MRF expenditure remains strongly linked to retail, manufacturing and hotels/restaurants, while final consumption associated with MCF and MCAF supports the fishing industry itself and, to a much lesser extent, manufacturing. The article discusses the challenge of improving European economic information on MRF to be used in impact assessments for decision-making, as well as a future Data Collection Framework in which recreational expenditures and economic surveys are specifically designed to be applied in impact studies. • Connect Input-Output and data collection on recreational expenses to assess impact. • Region with non-tourism recreational fisheries and high rate of local anglers. • Higher gross contribution of marine commercial fishing to value added and jobs. • Commercial artisanal fishing shows the highest multiplier effect on regional jobs. • Different sectoral impacts of recreational and commercial fishing, complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]