Environmental cost of consumption in China and India

Environmental cost of consumption in China and India | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Environmental cost of consumption in China and India Shreedhar Gautam This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9184206/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract China and India have transitioned into decisive global demand drivers, yet current frameworks assume final demand triggers uniform environmental responses, not fully capturing the structural realities of varied consumption pathways. Furthermore, standard metrics often fail to distinguish technological inefficiency with structural value-capture constraints. To address these limitations, this study applies a demand-pathway decomposition and a dual-metric diagnostic framework anchored in the Leontief inverse, using the 2023 Asian Development Bank database. This approach captures infinite-order structural dependencies to distinguish domestic final demand (DFD) for intermediate goods from the visible finished-goods trade of foreign final demand (FFD). Results indicate that DFD networks generate emission spillovers up to two and a half times more intensive than their respective FFD pathways. While Chinese elevated intensity stems primarily from structural complexity and low value retention, Indian reflects fundamental technological constraints. Geographic positioning proves equally decisive, empirically identifying a geographical penalty where landlocked suppliers bear emission intensities over three times higher than advanced economies due to compressed value capture. These findings suggest that recalibrating climate governance requires extending policies beyond visible imports to target hidden domestic networks, alongside geography-differentiated strategies explicitly addressing structural value compression. JEL: C67, Q56, F 18 Emissions accounting Multi-regional input-output (MRIO) Global value chains (GVCs) Geographical penalty China and India Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 09 May, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 23 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 22 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9184206","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":613731190,"identity":"0f2f8365-9a46-40de-85a1-de3384777617","order_by":0,"name":"Shreedhar Gautam","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACCQST+UFCBYhibiBOCw8DA5vBhzMgLYzEa2GQnNkGYhLQIj+79+GDD7/sEvezn04w5p1XG83fDtTyo2IbTi0Gd44bG87sS07s4cnd8Jh32/HcGYcZGxh7ztzGrUUijU2at4c5sYchd4Mx77ZjuQ1ALcyMbbi1yM9IY//9t6c+sYf/7QZp3jnHcucT0sJwI42NmeHH4cQeidwNkjMbanI3ENJicCONWbK34bhxz4232ww+HDuQuxGo5SA+vwAdxvjhx59q2fb+3M0PEmrqcuedP3zwwY8KPA4DAcY2OPMwmDyAXz0I/IGz6ggrHgWjYBSMghEHAKbsYRAK7EHRAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7598-0034","institution":"Yokohama National University: Yokohama Kokuritsu Daigaku","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shreedhar","middleName":"","lastName":"Gautam","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-21 08:07:02","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9184206/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9184206/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106105380,"identity":"81476cd8-957c-4ebb-86ce-dd0a595daea4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-03 13:42:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":848653,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9184206/v1_covered_42a52555-cbb0-40cc-9c71-06b3292b778b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Environmental cost of consumption in China and India","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"journal-of-economic-structures","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"jecs","sideBox":"Learn more about [Journal of Economic Structures](http://journalofeconomicstructures.springeropen.com)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/jecs/default.aspx","title":"Journal of Economic Structures","twitterHandle":"@SpringerOpen","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Emissions accounting, Multi-regional input-output (MRIO), Global value chains (GVCs), Geographical penalty, China and India","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9184206/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9184206/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eChina and India have transitioned into decisive global demand drivers, yet current frameworks assume final demand triggers uniform environmental responses, not fully capturing the structural realities of varied consumption pathways. 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Geographic positioning proves equally decisive, empirically identifying a geographical penalty where landlocked suppliers bear emission intensities over three times higher than advanced economies due to compressed value capture. 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