Fossil-fuels, bio-fuels and food: Raking priorities

Dias, Guilherme Leite da Silva and Guilhoto, Joaquim José Martins (2010): Fossil-fuels, bio-fuels and food: Raking priorities.

Abstract

This paper deals with the question of the trade-offs between bio-fuels, fossil-fuels, and food. To do so an analysis is conducted taking into consideration the differences in relative prices and in the productive structure among the countries. The results shows that in general food puts a greater stress over the economies than energy does, and mainly in the developing economies. As a consequence of that, the possibilities for the growing use of bio-fuels is limited and restrict to countries where it is possible to have an expansion of bio-fuel production without compromising the production of food and without putting more stress over the environment. This, by its turn, restricts the possibilities for a world policy of bio-fuels with the consequence that bilateral agreements would be the dominant ones.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Fossil-Fuels; Bio-Fuels; Food; Productive Structure; Input-Output
• Subjects: R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R1 - General Regional Economics > R15 - Econometric and Input-Output Models ; Other Models

References

German Biomass Sustainability Ordinance- commentary paper to the draft, Institute for Energy and Environment, Leipzig, January 2008.

OECD (2006). The OECD Input-Output Database as presented by Norihiko Yamano and Nadim Ahmad (2006), “The OECD Input-Output Database: 2006 Edition”. STI Working Paper 2006/8. Statistical Analysis of Science, Technology and Industry.

Wolf, Martin (2008). Food crisis is a chance to reform global agriculture, FT-April 29, 2008.