Division of Economics and Finance, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Office J367, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, J BlockUniversity Road, Westville, 3630, South Africa
Kohler, M., Division of Economics and Finance, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Office J367, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, J BlockUniversity Road, Westville, 3630, South Africa
SADC's competitiveness in many industrial products is dependent on its abundant natural resources, resulting in significant trade in natural resource (and in some cases energy) based products. These mining and manufacturing goods have benefited from the region's policy of subsidising industrial energy prices. There is thus sufficient reason to believe that SADC's trade in industrial goods has a significant impact on the energy requirements of the countries within the region. This study adopts a structural inputoutput approach to test the extent to which this hypothesis is valid. The effects that SADC industry trade components have on the region's energy use patterns are then decomposed using the refined Laspeyres technique in order to establish the underlying causes of change in the country's energy requirements. © 2010 A B Academic Publishers.
