12 April 2017
Neo-extractivism and the carbon curse: a network analysis of the world input-output database for Mexico and Brazil, 1995-2011
Most Latin American countries have based their economic growth on the extraction and exports of natural resources, with important implications for climate change. A proposed carbon curse relates abundance, extraction and exports of fossil fuels to higher carbon intensities, through inefficiency of production, crowding-out effects, weaker energy efficiency gains and subsidies. Although relevant, none of these explanations incorporate structural causes, such as a possibly higher proportion of carbon intensive economic flows, both nationally and embedded in exports, especially when comparing countries with and without fossil fuels. Mapping a World Input Output Database with graph theory methods can quantity such structural drivers. However, conventional centrality measures are calculated from node attributes, such as degree or betweenness; comparing flows requires the use of more innovative edge centralities. The present study seeks to explore structural causes for the carbon curse, comparing between distinct edge centralities for Mexico and Brazil between 1995 and 2011, years of extractive intensification due to the countries’ opening to a global liberalized trade model. If the past can be a mold to shape the future, a structural measure of the carbon curse could give light to policy makers on how much the economy is closer (or not) toward a low carbon economy.
Postdoctoral research at IIASA
IIASA-Mexico CONACYT Postdoctoral Fellowship
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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