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To promote transparency and provide information, the Federal Planning Bureau regularly publishes the methods and results of its works. The publications are organised in different series, such as Outlooks, Working Papers and Planning Papers. Some reports can be consulted here, along with the Short Term Update newsletters that were published until 2015. You can search our publications by theme, publication type, author and year.
Reports - REP_IOT_12921 (fr), (nl),
Articles - Article 018 (fr), (nl),
In international agreements, countries are considered responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions linked to their production activities. The carbon footprint provides an alternative assessment of this responsibility by attributing emissions to the country where the goods and services are consumed. This study presents the production-based CO2 emissions and the carbon footprint of the three Belgian regions for the year 2015. The production-based CO2 emissions are derived from the regional air emission accounts developed for this study, while the regional carbon footprints are calculated based on an input-output model and input-output data that include CO2 emissions. According to the results, the carbon footprint exceeds production-based emissions for all three regions. This implies that their contribution to global CO2 emissions is larger from a consumption perspective than from a production perspective.
Working Papers - Working Paper 01-23 (fr), (nl),
A macro-economic analysis of the activity of multinational groups is of particular interest for economic policy in a country like Belgium with a longstanding tradition of openness to foreign investment. This working paper combines a database of enterprise groups that are active in Belgium with industry-level data from the national accounts to show that multinational groups play an important role in the Belgian economy. Together, foreign affiliates and firms that are part of a Belgian multinational group account for more than 40% of GDP, 25% of total employment and 75% of exports.
Working Papers - Working Paper 05-22 (fr),
The Federal Planning Bureau has built the 2015 interregional input-output table for Belgium within the framework of an agreement with the statistical authorities of the three Regions (BISA/IBSA, VSA and IWEPS). This paper describes the methodology and data sources used to compile this table.
Working Papers - Working Paper 07-21 (fr), (nl),
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan details the use of the €5.925 billion allocated under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The major part (88%) of the Belgian plan is directly intended to increase the capital stock of the Belgian economy through public investment and aid to private investment. In the short term, at the peak of the plan's stimulus effect, economic activity would be 0.2% higher than in the non-plan scenario. Although the stimulus is temporary, it has long-term effects due to the increase in the public capital stock and the support for R&D activities that improve the profitability of the capital stock of firms and encourage its accumulation. By 2040, GDP is still projected to be 0.1% above non-plan growth path. This estimate does not take into account the reform component of the plan, nor the broader recovery, investment and reform plans announced by the Regions and the federal government, nor the effect of foreign plans on the Belgian economy.
Reports - REP 12401 (en), (fr), (nl),
This paper presents an estimation of employment sustained directly and indirectly by exports based on an export-heterogeneous input-output table. In this table, manufacturing industries are disaggregated according to the exporter status of firms in order to account for within-industry differences in input structures. According to our results, export-sustained employment in Belgium amounted to 1.32 million jobs in 2010, which corresponds to 29.5 % of total employment.
Working Papers - Working Paper 11-19 (fr),
The National Accounts Institute (NAI) presents in this publication a new version of the input-output tables at current prices for the year 2015, compiled according to the ESA 2010 methodology. Compared to the first version of the 2015 input-output tables published in December 2018, the tables presented here incorporate the occasional revision of the national accounts implemented by Belgium in 2019.
Other publications - OTH_IOT2015BIS (fr), (nl),
This paper describes the methodology to make the existing interregional supply and use table (ISUT) of 2010 compatible to ESA2010/SNA2008 rules and shows the results at a macro level. The ISUT describes, for each product and industry, all intra- and interregional flows caused by the intermediate use, final consumption expenditures, investments and exports of the three Belgian regions Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia.
Working Papers - Working Paper 10-19 (en),
This Working Paper examines which socioeconomic household characteristics determine greenhouse gas emissions in Belgium. The analysis is based on the PEACH2AIR database, which links the air pollution data with consumption expenditure of Belgian households as recorded in the 2014 Household Budget Survey.
Working Papers - Working Paper 08-19 (en), (fr), (nl),
In accordance with the Law of 21 December 1994, the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) is responsible for drawing up the five-yearly input-output tables within the framework of the National Accounts Institute. In this publication, the Input-Output Tables for the year 2015 at current prices are presented. These tables have been compiled according to the ESA 2010 methodology and the NACE Rev. 2/ CPA 2.1 classification.
Other publications - OTH_IOT2015 (fr), (nl),
For a finer analysis of competitiveness and value chain integration, this working paper presents a micro-data based breakdown of manufacturing industries in the 2010 Belgian supply-and-use and input-output tables into export-oriented and domestic market firms. The former are defined as those firms that export at least 25% of their turnover. Analyses based on the resulting export-heterogeneous IOT reveal differences between the two in terms of input structures and import behaviour: export-oriented manufacturers have lower value-added in output shares, and they import proportionally more of the intermediates they use. Moreover, exports of export-oriented manufacturers generate a substantial amount of value added in other Belgian firms, in particular providers of services. The policy implication of these results is that Belgium’s external competitiveness depends not only on exporters but also on firms that mainly serve the domestic market. To maximise the impact of export promotion in terms of domestically generated value added, the entire value chain for the production of exports must be taken into account.
Working Papers - Working Paper 11-18 (en),
The database PEACH2AIR links emissions of greenhouse and acidifying gases, of gases contributing to tropospheric ozone formation and particulate matter to consumer expenditures in Belgium in 2014. It relies on standardized air pollution data (including air emissions accounts), input-output tables and the Household Budget Survey. Analyses for 2014 show that energy products as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages are the most air polluting expenditure categories.
Working Papers - Working Paper 03-18 (en),
The traditional attribution of responsibility for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to producing countries may be distorted by international trade flows as importing emission-intensive commodities contributes to reducing a country’s production-based emissions. This has motivated the calculation of carbon footprints that measure the amount of domestic and foreign GHG emissions (directly and indirectly) embodied in commodities intended for final consumption by a country’s residents. In this working paper, we present carbon footprint estimations for Belgium based on global multi-regional input-output (MRIO) tables that have been made consistent with detailed Belgian national accounts. According to our calculations, Belgium’s carbon footprint is substantially higher than its productionbased emissions, which means that Belgium is a net importer of GHG emissions. Moreover, our results show that consistency with detailed national accounts does matter for MRIO-based carbon footprint calculations, in particular for a small open economy like Belgium.
Working Papers - Working Paper 10-17 (en),
This working paper presents two analytical applications based on the interregional input-output (IO) table for Belgium for the year 2010. The Federal Planning Bureau constructed this table in 2015 in cooperation with the statistical authorities of the country’s three Regions (IBSA, SVR and IWEPS). The following standard IO analyses based on applying the Leontief model to the interregional IO table are presented here: the derivation of multipliers for each region and the estimation of regional value added and regional employment generated by domestic final demand and exports.
Working Papers - Working Paper 05-16 (fr), (nl),
This paper analyses the importance of the production of alcoholic beverages for the Belgian economy, with a particular focus on beer. First, the paper provides an outline of the recent development of production, imports, exports and domestic use of alcoholic beverages. This product analysis is complemented by a study of the branch of alcoholic beverages in which production, added value, investments and employment are discussed. Finally, production, revenue and employment multipliers are calculated using the input-output tables for the year 2010, as well as the total contribution of the whole production and distribution chain of the produced and imported alcoholic beverages to Belgian GDP and employment.
Working Papers - Working Paper 02-16 (mix),
Other publications - Input-Output Table 2010 (2015) (fr), (nl),
Other publications - Input-Output Table 2010 (fr), (nl),
Over the last couple of decades, there has been a large scale reorganisation of manufacturing production processes within global value chains. This has been achieved through fragmentation and offshoring. Fostered by the fall in coordination costs due to information and communication technology developments, offshoring implies that firms increasingly source intermediates from abroad. In developed economies, this has raised fears of massive job losses. Most academic work, in contrast, fails to find evidence that offshoring contributes to lowering employment.
Working Papers - Working Paper 16-13 (en),
Over the last couple of decades, trade liberalisation has progressed and environmental regulations have become more stringent, in particular regarding emissions of air pollution. This has raised the fear in developed countries that emission-intensive activities are increasingly carried out abroad. This paper develops an approach for testing whether emission-intensive industries have greater shares of imported intermediate materials. The test is applied to the Belgian manufacturing sector for the years 1995-2007. Emissions of three types of air pollutants are analysed: greenhouse gases, acidifying gases and tropospheric precursor gases. The results provide evidence that industries with a high intensity in acidifying gas emissions (SO2, NOX and NH3) tend to import a greater share of intermediate materials. This is likely to be linked to the stricter enforcement of regulations for air quality, which act upon acidifying gases. There is no such evidence in the results for emissions of tropospheric precursor gases and in particular of greenhouse gases. Regarding the latter, despite stringent regulations, enforcement appears to be less strict.
Working Papers - Working Paper 12-13 (en),
The input-output table of 2005 has been, together with new versions of the tables for 1995 and 2005, subjected to a traditional input-output analysis by means of the cumulated costs : the analysis of value added and intermediate imports directly and indirectly caused in the whole economy by the deliveries of one industry to final demand. By means of this technique the share of energy in the (cumulated) cost structure of the industries and components of final demand is examined.
Working Papers - Working Paper 11-13 (nl),
The input-output table of 2005 has been, together with new versions of the tables for 1995 and 2005, subjected to a traditional input-output analysis by means of the cumulated costs: the analysis of value added and intermediate imports directly and indirectly caused in the whole economy by the deliveries of one industry to final demand. By means of this technique is examined which contribution to GDP each component of final demand generates.
Working Papers - Working Paper 10-13 (mix),
The input-output table of 2005 has been, together with new versions of the tables for 1995 and 2005, subjected to a traditional input-output analysis by means of the cumulated costs : the analysis of value added and intermediate imports directly and indirectly caused in the whole economy by the deliveries of one industry to final demand. Two tendencies are observed: an increase of intermediate imports in the cost structures (1995-2000) and a de-industrialization (2000-2005). But a few particularities are also discovered.
Working Papers - Working Paper 09-13 (nl),
This Working paper presents the output, income and employment multipliers of the final demand in Belgium over the period 1995-2005. It exploits a consistent time series of input-output tables at constant prices for the years 1995, 2000 and 2005, which allows, for the first time in Belgium, to study the evolution of final demand multipliers without methodological break and without price effects.
Working Papers - Working Paper 08-13 (fr),
Within the context of the economic stimulus plan adopted at the end of 2012, the government set up a group of experts from the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB), the High Council for Employment (HCE), the Directorate General Statistics and Economic Information (DGSEI), the Central Economic Council (CEC) and Eurostat. The group was charged with the following missions:
To complete these missions, the group of experts has drawn up this two-part report. The first part (A) deals with productivity and labour costs and the second part (B) discusses training efforts by enterprises.
Other publications - GECE_EGCW_1301 (mix),
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