THE REGIONAL INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT IMPACTS OF NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS
Published date | 01 August 1983 |
Date | 01 August 1983 |
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1983.tb01018.x |
Scorrirh
Journuln/'Pnlrrrrul Economy.
Vol.
30.
No.
3.
November
1983
ID
1983
Scottish Economic
Society
THE REGIONAL INCOME AND
EMPLOYMENT IMPACTS
OF
NUCLEAR
POWER STATIONS
A.
MCGUIRE*
University
of
Aberdeen
I
INTRODUCTION
This paper attempts quantitatively to assess the income and employment
impacts associated with two nuclear establishments in Scotland
:
the United
Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (U.K.A.E.A.) nuclear power establish-
ment at Dounreay in Caithness, and the South of Scotland Electricity Board
(S.S.E.B.) nuclear power station presently under construction at Torness in the
Lothian region. The income and employment impacts are assessed at a
sub-
regional level. These sub-regions are defined as the counties of Caithness and
Sutherland
for
the Dounreay plant, and the Lothian region
for
the Torness
plant. Very little work on the topic
of
the economic impacts associated with
nuclear power plants has been undertaken in the U.K. The notable exceptions
are the studies undertaken by Fishwick
(1981),
Gwynedd County Council
(1976)
and Oxford Polytechnic
(1979)
although none
of
these studies explicitly
models the quantitative impacts at a sub-regional level.
The
Model
The model used here was first presented by Greig
(1971)
and was
subsequently amended by Brownrigg
(1971).
It is a basic Keynesian income
multiplier model refined to allow detailed analysis
of
income and employment
impacts at a local level.
Our
use
of
the model allows the identification
of
the
increase in income and the associated increase in employment relating to the
siting of a nuclear power plant in a particular locality.
The basic formulation for the model, following Brownrigg's
(1971)
notation,
may be given
as
:
AX
=
kJ
where
AX
is the change in the region's income,
k,
is the regional multiplier, and
*This study was supported by a grant from the
U.K.
Atomic Energy Authority (Dounreay) and
I
wish
to
thank the Authority and the South
of
Scotland Electricity Board
for
their help.
I
would
also like
to
express my thanks
to
Professor D.
W.
Pearce.
J.
Taylor and the referee
for
their helpful
comments
on
an
earlier draft. The views expressed and any existing errors are the responsibility of
the author.
Date
of
receipt of final manuscript
:
16
March
1983.
264
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