Assessing the Potentials of Bioeconomy Sectors in Poland Employing Input-Output Modeling

Abstract

Bioeconomy emerges under major current global challenges, both environmental and economic, that are related to the existence and use of bio-based resources; in this context, policy stakeholders and scientists seek and propose potential solutions. Bioeconomy is among the discussed strategies with the potential to offer solutions. In this framework, bioeconomy's importance increased over the last several years, thus it is essential to identify and monitor its role and significance in an economy and assess its potentials and intersectoral relationships. In this framework, the current study, through a general equilibrium analysis, aims to identify the sectors that are related to the bioeconomy and assess their potential in the Polish economy as such quantitative studies do not exist in the literature for Poland. For doing so, an Input-Output model was built, identifying initially the bioeconomy sectors and, afterwards, estimating their linkage coefficients in order to capture their direct and indirect impacts on the Polish economy. Results indicate that the fully bio-based sectors, such as the agriculture and food sectors, have higher potentials to induce knock-on effects in the economy than the mixed bio-based sectors. Thus, the current study’s results can offer important information to policy makers for decision making, such as in the case of planning development in any mixed bio-based sectors, such as biofuels or biogas.

Attitudes and opinions of farmers in the context of environmental protection in rural areas in Poland

“…Opportunities can be seen, inter alia, in the development of renewable energy sources and production of biomass for non-food purposes Zyadin et al 2019;Loizou et al 2019;Czekała et al 2020). There is a need for appropriate local programs to support these solutions as well as instruments that encourage the provision of services for the benefit of the environment in line with public demand.…”

Comparing Bioeconomy Potential at National vs. Regional Level Employing Input-Output Modeling

“…The Member States of the European Union are involved in the development of the bioeconomy, as confirmed by directly developed strategies or related initiatives. Scientific research and economic analysis support policy authorities that develop strategies for bioeconomy development: e.g., in Germany [15], Latvia [16,17], Finland [18], Spain [19], Ireland [20] or Poland [21]. As a result of the disparities between regions, particularly in countries with a relatively large area and population, a national strategy or support for the development of the bioeconomy may not be sufficient.…”

“…Relevant research has shifted from the global impact analysis of disasters to that devoted to disease and virus pandemics, with recent publications both at a national level, namely in China and Japan [32,33], and the global level [34]. In this regard, inputoutput analysis aims to comprehend the linkages between sectors and to determine the direct and indirect impact on the economy [21,35,36] from behavioral impacts on the economic structure (i.e., transport or commuting preferences) and public policies (measures against supply chain disruptions restraining international trade or public investments in infrastructure by means of the European recovery fund) [37,38].…”

“…In general terms, the model consists of a system of linear equations that describe purchases and sales between sectors of the economy [36]. The basic assumptions of the input-output analysis have been developed over time and adapted to many other aspects and areas, such as climate change [41], waste management [42], transportation [43], water management, resource management [44], and the bioeconomy [20,21]. Despite the well-known limitations of the model, such as fixed coefficients, linearity, and simplifications, it has been widely used in many countries.…”

“…Therefore, there is a need to adapt the input-output symmetric matrix to separate the biomass production and processing sectors. For Poland, this analysis of identification and separation from mixed bio-based sectors, and biomass-processing production sectors, has been performed [21], applying the method proposed by the Joint Research Centre [8]. The aim of this article is not to present the status of sectors that produce and process biomass in Poland (pure and mixed bio-based sectors).…”