Forest industry contribution to economic development of the Biobio region, Chile

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects that would have an exogenous demand shock of forestry sub-sectors (silviculture, timber, pulp and paper, and furniture) on the economic activity, wages, incomes and the environment of the Biobio Region, Chile. For this purpose, was used an Environmental Extended Social Accounting Matrix for Biobio with base year 2006 which allowed simulating impacts of changes in final demand with a sectorial economic model. The results show that each forestry sub-sector generates different contributions to the economic development of the Biobio region, specifically the timber industry has the highest share of GDP and is the greatest consumer of inputs from other sectors for their high backward linkage, silviculture is a strategic sector for its raw material supply, the pulp industry generates greater impact on wages and high pollutant emissions, and furniture manufacturing generates lower pollutant emissions.