Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 16 > Issue 2

Regional demands for pulp and paper products

Patrick McCarthy, mccarthy@gatech.edu , Lei Lei
 
Suggested Citation
Patrick McCarthy and Lei Lei (2010), "Regional demands for pulp and paper products", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 16: No. 2, pp 127-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfe.2009.11.001

Publication Date: 0/4/2010
© 0 2010 Patrick McCarthy, Lei Lei
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
JEL Codes:L6L67L73R11
Forest productsPulp and paperDemand analysisRegional economic activity
 

Share

Download article
In this article:
Introduction 
Methodology 
Data 
Estimation results 
Forecasting future demands for pulp and paper 
Conclusion 

Abstract

The pulp and paper industry has experienced dramatic changes during the past several decades with large variations in world regional market shares of production capacity and consumption patterns. Based on panel data available (1961–2000) from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, this paper estimates dynamic demand models for pulp and paper products in four major trading regions: Asia, Europe, the North American Free Trade Agreement Area, and South America. With or without price in the model, short-run demands are generally output inelastic. However, without price in the model, long-run output elasticities were more elastic, particularly in the Paper/Paperboard, Printing/Writing, and Household/Sanitary sectors with most elasticities greater than 1. With price included in the model, long-run demands were generally output inelastic, with primary exceptions being the Paper/Paperboard sector for all but the NAFTA region and Wrapping/Packaging for Asia and South America. Price was generally significant with long-run elasticities, in absolute value, in the (0.05, 0.11) range. And as a measure of urbanization, the percent of the population living in urban areas significantly affects consumption in total and in the Pulp and Printing/Writing sectors.

DOI:10.1016/j.jfe.2009.11.001