Energy use of the globalized world economy is comprehensively overviewed by means of a systems input-output analysis based on statistics of 2010. Emphases are put on the sources of primary energy ...exploitation, inter-regional trade imbalance of energy use via global supply chains, and sinks of energy use in final demand. The largest final user turns out to be the United States, compared with China as the leading energy exploiter. The global trade volume of energy use is shown in magnitude up to about 90% of the global primary energy exploited. The United States is recognized as the world’s biggest energy use importer, in contrast to Russia as the biggest exporter. Approximately one third of global primary energy exploited is shown to be embodied in inter-regional net trade. Japan and Russia are respectively illustrated to be the world’s leading net importer and leading net exporter of energy use. For China as the leading energy exploiter, about 30% of its exploited energy is for foreign regions’ final use, and 70% for its own final use. For the European Union as the largest sink region, nearly 80% of the energy required in its final use is from foreign regions, led by Russia. As reflected in the results, the conventional perspective based only on the direct energy consumption by region inevitably leads to inter-regional “energy grabbing” and “carbon leakage”, which raises a serious concern of “regional decrease at the expense of global increase”. In current context of energy shortage and climate change, this global energy overview can provide essential strategic implications at the international, national and regional scales for sustainable energy policy making.
•Energy use flows among 186 economies of the world are depicted.•The United States is the largest sink of energy use, in contrast to China as the largest primary energy source.•Energy use embodied in inter-regional trades is 90% of global energy exploited.•80% of energy use in the European Union is from foreign regions.
On 3 April 2020, the Director-General of the WHO stated: "COVID-19 is much more than a health crisis. We are all aware of the profound social and economic consequences of the pandemic (WHO, 2020)". ...Such consequences are the result of counter-measures such as lockdowns, and world-wide reductions in production and consumption, amplified by cascading impacts through international supply chains. Using a global multi-regional macro-economic model, we capture direct and indirect spill-over effects in terms of social and economic losses, as well as environmental effects of the pandemic. Based on information as of May 2020, we show that global consumption losses amount to 3.8$tr, triggering significant job (147 million full-time equivalent) and income (2.1$tr) losses. Global atmospheric emissions are reduced by 2.5Gt of greenhouse gases, 0.6Mt of PM2.5, and 5.1Mt of SO2 and NOx. While Asia, Europe and the USA have been the most directly impacted regions, and transport and tourism the immediately hit sectors, the indirect effects transmitted along international supply chains are being felt across the entire world economy. These ripple effects highlight the intrinsic link between socio-economic and environmental dimensions, and emphasise the challenge of addressing unsustainable global patterns. How humanity reacts to this crisis will define the post-pandemic world.
Economic voting is a widely accepted regularity in the political science literature, yet most work on the subject either assumes that economic performance is a direct result of policy making or, more ...recently, argues that voters are able to identify when this is not the case. Our article challenges these claims by showing that, in a large subset of Latin American countries, both presidential popularity and prospects of reelection strongly depend on factors unambiguously exogenous to presidents’ policy choices. These findings advance the literature on assignment of responsibility for economic performance and pose important implications for democratic accountability.
The COVID-19 pandemic may affect the world severely in terms of quality of life, political, environmental, and economic sustainable development, and the global economy. Its impact is attested to by ...the number of research studies on it. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the psychology of sustainability (quality of life), on sustainable development, and on the global economy. A computerized literature search was performed, and journal articles from authentic sources were extracted, including MEDLINE (PubMed), Google Scholar, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Emerald Insight. The references in selected articles were screened to identify any relevant studies. The following inclusion criteria were followed: research articles based on the COVID-19 pandemic, and articles, research papers, journals, and news articles published 2010 to 2020. The exclusion criteria were as follow: psychology research, articles, and journals published before 2010 and research articles having no link with the current pandemic's impact on the psychology of sustainability, quality of life, and the global economy. Of the initial 350 articles identified, only 61 studies were found to be relevant and meet the inclusion criteria. Based on these articles, the review highlights that compared to developed countries, the developing nations and poor nations such as African countries with compromised health structures have been greatly affected. There are close associations between health, economic, environmental, and political issues globally. The pandemic can be managed if we follow new policies that implement economic and public health changes worldwide. A planned, coordinated approach between the public-private sector is required, designed according to each country's health system and economy. We can come out of this crisis if we work together and support both developed and developing nations.
•Global socio-hydrology is reflected by tracing virtual water use from source to sink.•An embodiment accounting model is developed by taking account of primary inputs.•Global virtual water transfer ...is 30% of the direct freshwater withdrawal.•Virtual water transfer in intermediate trade is 1.4 times that in final trade.•Water self-sufficiency rate by source and that by sink are devised as new indices.
To reflect a key aspect of global socio-hydrology, this paper explores global virtual water use from source of exploitation to sink of final consumption via interregional trades within the world economy as reflected by world input-output database for 2014. An embodiment accounting model is developed, which takes full account of virtual water feedbacks related to primary inputs. Global total trade volume of virtual water is estimated to be in magnitude around 30% of the global direct freshwater withdrawal. Moreover, it is revealed that global virtual water transfer in intermediate trade is in magnitude around 1.4 times that in final trade. In intermediate trade of virtual water, China, Japan and the United Kingdom turn out to be the three leading net importers, while India, Russia and the United States are revealed as the leading net exporters. In final trade of virtual water, the United States, Japan and Russia are the major net importers, in contrast to China, India and Mexico as the leading net exporters. Trade connections and imbalances of major economies in terms of virtual water are quantified and analyzed. Two new indicators in terms of water self-sufficiency rate by source and that by sink are devised. It is found that around 40% of the use of China’s freshwater withdrawal finally sinks into foreign economies while only 20% of China’s virtual water use originates from other regions. With regard to Germany, Canada and France, they behave like active pumps driving vast virtual water inflows and outflows, demonstrating their high involvement in the global supply chain in terms of virtual water. With the increasingly frequent virtual water transfer within the world economy, nations and regions ought to assess their behaviors in intermediate and final trades of virtual water for sustainable use of freshwater resources.
PDF
