The FPB’s studies cover 11 main themes: Energy, Environmental economic accounts and analyses, International economy, Labour market, Macroeconomic forecasts and analyses, Public finances, Sectoral accounts and analyses, Social protection, demography and prospective studies, Structural studies, Sustainable development, Transport.
A macro-economic analysis of the activity of multinational groups is of particular interest for economic policy in a country like Belgium with a longstanding tradition of openness to foreign investment. This working paper combines a database of enterprise groups that are active in Belgium with industry-level data from the national accounts to show that multinational groups play an important role in the Belgian economy. Together, foreign affiliates and firms that are part of a Belgian multinational group account for more than 40% of GDP, 25% of total employment and 75% of exports.
Sectoral analyses are needed to understand the specific characteristics of each industry and the interdependencies between industries in the economy.
Input-output tables are a tool of choice for such analyses. More specifically, they can be used as an instrument to carry out:
The use of the environmental accounts provides interesting sectoral applications. Comparison between the different environmental accounts (AEA, Energy Use Account, EPEA, etc.) and the combination of environmental data with (macro) economic indicators (from the IOT for example) could open up new perspectives.
Linking the input-output tables with the Social Accounting Matrix will add qualitative aspects (divided according to employment characteristics or household types) to the analyses in the future.
Federal Planning Bureau