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Journal of Environmental Accounting and Management 14(3) (2026) 547--552 | DOI:10.5890/JEAM.2026.09.012

Thijs ten Raa

Utrecht School of Economics, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

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Abstract

I resolve the confusion surrounding emissions and footprints. Footprints impute industry emissions to end users (households). Product footprints are shown to be equal to emission intensities inflated by the Leontief inverse. However, unlike the prevailing practice of employing industry-by-industry dimensions, the input-output coefficients must have product-by-product dimensions and be constructed according to the product technology model. The analysis shows that an emission tax increases the product prices proportionally to the product footprints.

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge improvements suggested by an anonymous referee.

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