The Influences of Energy Price Variation on the Prices of Other Industries: A Study Based on Input-Output Price Model

Abstract

Energy has laid material foundation for human society during its development. Meanwhile, any change of price in the energy industry may influence social production and people’s life at all levels via an input-output mechanism under which the change related to energy is surely transmitted to other industries. The price change thus incurred in all industries may adversely affect the realization of macroeconomic objective-maintaining prices at a stable level. It is, therefore, needed to conduct an empirical research related to the impact of price change in energy industry on that in other industries. According to the data coming from “China’s 2015 Input-Output Extension Table (42 Departments)” and four hypothetical basis, this article focuses on four energy sectors and analyzes how deeply the price change of them, by use of input-output model, affects that of other industrial products under five conditions where each of their price rises by 10% individually or simultaneously, and why such an influence occurs. The results show that the price rising of the energies in question leads to an upward growth in the prices of other industrial products, especially when their prices go up simultaneously. Besides, the price increase in the four energy sectors doesn’t influence other industries in an accumulation form but actually leads to a rollback in some of other industries. It is recommended to adopt diversified pricing strategies for different energy products, thus maximizing the value of each specific energy, and meanwhile achieving the goals of energy consumption reduction and price equilibrium.