| Summary: | In this thesis, I apply environmental input-output (IO) methods to evaluate some impacts of economic activity on the environment and the associated economy-wide implications of using the environment to meet some economic needs. The core of this thesis comprises of three independent but related chapters or papers (Chapter 2, 3 & 4). Each of these core chapters focuses on developing methods to answer key policy questions so that policy makers may be provided with a better understanding of the impacts of economic activities on the environment. In the first core chapter (Chapter 2), the environmental IO approach is considered as a means of examining the nature of externalities via pollution generation and of attributing, as a case study, physical waste generated to production and consumption economic activity. The chapter addresses the policy-relevant question of what economic sectors may ultimately be considered responsible for waste generation and the final consumption patterns, which drive that production and in turn waste pressures in Scotland. In the second core chapter (Chapter 3), the environmental IO model is applied to model and incorporate the resource implications of negative externalities from waste generation into economic processes. It builds on a previous but inconclusive study on this issue, here using improved data. The chapter addresses a key policy issue regarding identifying the implications if the direct polluter pays or does not pay for waste management implied by their waste generation and, in either case, who ultimately bears the cost for the provision of waste management services within the economy In the third core chapter (Chapter 4), the environmental IO model is applied in a novel way to consider the case of supplying a physical resource like water (as opposed to providing a clean environment as in the event of pollution or waste generation). The chapter addresses key policy issues regarding the causes and implications of the deviation between actual expenditure for the output of the water sector and actual physical water use. More generally, this thesis makes empirical and analytical improvements to the application of the Leontief, (1970) environmental IO model, a seminal theoretical contribution in terms of the resource cost of environmental protection and provision of common pool resources.
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