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Unequal Carbon Exchanges: The Environmental and Economic Impacts of Iconic U.S. Consumption Items
Author(s) -
Prell Christina,
Feng Kuishuang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/jiec.12377
Subject(s) - consumption (sociology) , value (mathematics) , clothing , product (mathematics) , inequality , production (economics) , economics , input–output model , business , natural resource economics , commerce , microeconomics , market economy , computer science , geography , mathematical analysis , social science , geometry , mathematics , archaeology , machine learning , sociology
Summary In this article, we track how consumption in the United States, a highly developed “core” country, triggers value added and carbon inequalities around the globe. We consider these two sources of inequality for all commodities and services consumed in the United States, and then for three specific sectors, these being electronics, motor vehicles, and wearing apparel. Our findings show how the production of commodities for U.S. consumption tends to reify inequalities between countries. Larger shares of value added (in comparison to shares of carbon emissions) are generally experienced by more‐developed, more‐integrated countries, whereas the opposite tendency is experienced in less‐developed, less‐integrated regions. We note how these between‐country differences can depend on the product chains that are analyzed. Our article makes use of a novel combination of social network analysis and multiregional input‐output analysis to better capture some intuitive ideas of global trade and its consequences.