Assessing the national economic importance of metals: An Input-Output approach to the case of copper in France

The national economic importance of a metal is usually considered as one of the indicators of this metal's vulnerability to supply restrictions at a national level. In a context of developed economies in which service activities stand for the largest share of GDP, this study proposes to account for the interplays between economic activities, including service activities, in the assessment of a metal's national economic importance. An index for qualifying a metal's relative economic importance is defined in such a way as to highlight to what extent the value added domestically induced by each domestic final use is dependent on this metal. The methodology, based on hybrid monetary physical Input-Output Analysis, is described and applied to the case of copper in France for the year 2008. "Constructions and construction works" represent the largest contribution to the index of copper's national economic importance. The hidden copper consumptions induced by the final uses of certain services (e.g. "public administration and defense services") imply that these are more critical in terms of supply restrictions than some other copper-containing products (e.g. "computer, electronic and optical products"). The limitations and corresponding necessary future developments of such an approach are finally discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.