Analysing pollution by way of vertically integrated coefficients, with an application to the water sector in Aragon

Abstract

In this paper, we adopt Pasinetti's approach of vertically integrated sectors in order to disaggregate pollution into its most significant components. Vertical integration allows us to obtain five components (and at least five measurement indices) corresponding to each sector and each type of pollution. These indices overcome some of the deficiencies of the traditional Rasmussen‐type coefficients. The empirical application is carried out by reference to the water sector in Aragon, a region which lies in north‐eastern Spain, for five polluting factors, namely: water returns, biological oxygen demand at five days (BOD5), suspended solids (SS), nitrates and phosphates.