An Input-Output Analysis of the Economic Role and Effects of the Mining Industry in South Korea

The mining industry (MI) has played a role in proving a stable supply of minerals for industrial production and human survival. The South Korean government is implementing various policies to promote the MI and needs quantitative information on the economic role and effects of the MI. Thus, this article aims to derive the information through an input-output (IO) analysis using the recently published 2015 IO table, subdividing the MI into four sectors, namely coal, crude petroleum and natural gas, metal ores, and non-metallic mineral mining, and treating the MI as exogenous rather than endogenous. To this end, three models are employed. First, the production-inducing effects, value-added creation effects, and wage-inducing effects of 1 dollar of production in the MI sector are analyzed using a demand-driven model. One dollar of production or investment in the sector causes 1.81 of production, 0.85 dollar of value-added, and 0.33 dollar of wage, respectively. Second, by applying a supply-driven model, it is found that one dollar of supply shortage in the MI causes 2.24 dollars of production failure throughout the national economy. Third, by utilizing a price-side model, it is discovered that a 10% increase in the price of output of the MI raises the overall price level by 0.025%.