Comparison of resource productivity indicator btween Japan, Australia, and China: Effects of resource-use intensity and final demand structure of goods and services on national resource productivity

Abstract

 Resource productivity indicators have been increasingly adopted in Europe and Japan as a metric of sustainable development. The value of resource productivity differs widely between countries. We analyzed factors that differentiated resource productivity of Japan, Australia, and China, as well as factors that changed resource productivity of the three countries from 1995 through 2010. We draw the following coclusions. (1) The difference in resource productivities of Australia and China and that of Japan can be mostly explained by the difference in resource-use intensity of goods and services and difference in demand structure for exports. (2) The changes in national resource productivity during the target period were influenced by changes in resource-use intensity of goods and service. In addition, impact of demand structure for exports and impact of domestic final demand structure were also observed for Australia and China, respectively.