Dataset of reclassified national economic accounts and useful exergy prices for Portugal from 1960 to 2014.

Published: 24 February 2026| Version 2 | DOI: 10.17632/khv55v7gs8.2
Contributors:
João Santos,
,
,

Description

This dataset supports the article “An aggregate price for energy services: Useful exergy as an intermediate flow in a two-sector model of the economy” published in Ecological Economics (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108665). It provides a harmonized set of macroeconomic and biophysical time series for Portugal covering the period 1960–2014, constructed to implement a two-sector economic model with an extended energy sector (E-Sector) and a non-energy sector (NE-Sector). The dataset combines reclassified national accounts with final and useful exergy balances in order to estimate consistent prices for useful exergy (energy services) treated as an intermediate input to production rather than as a primary factor. Macroeconomic variables are derived from official sources (AMECO, EUROSTAT, Banco de Portugal, EU KLEMS) and reallocated across sectors following the accounting framework described in the associated paper. These include sectoral consumption, investment, capital stocks, labor inputs, gross operating surplus, compensation of employees, taxes, trade flows, and gross value added, all expressed in nominal monetary units. Energy and exergy variables are based on detailed national energy balances and extended exergy accounting, including primary, final, and useful exergy flows by energy carrier, economic activity, and end-use. Useful exergy estimates incorporate second-law (final-to-useful) conversion efficiencies and cover conventional energy carriers as well as food, feed for working animals, and other non-conventional sources, following established societal exergy accounting methods. The dataset also includes derived indicators, such as aggregate final-to-useful exergy efficiency, sectoral exergy uses, intermediate payments for useful exergy, and demand-side and supply-side prices of useful exergy, enabling replication of all main quantitative results presented in the paper. All variables are documented with clear definitions, units, and sectoral allocation rules. The dataset is intended for reuse in research on ecological and biophysical economics, energy–economy interactions, growth theory, integrated assessment modeling, and long-run energy service pricing.

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Steps to reproduce

1. Macroeconomic data collection Collect annual national accounts data for Portugal (1960–2014), including consumption, investment (GFCF), trade, compensation of employees, gross operating surplus, taxes less subsidies, and employment by economic activity, from AMECO, EUROSTAT, Banco de Portugal, and EU KLEMS. Monetary values are kept in nominal terms. 2. Two-sector reclassification Reclassify national accounts into an extended energy sector (E-Sector) and a non-energy sector (NE-Sector) following the rules described in the associated article (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108665). Conventional energy activities and supplementary food/feed conversion activities are fully assigned to the E-Sector. Capital goods that convert final energy to useful exergy (e.g. transport equipment, machinery) are reclassified as E-Sector investment, including items originally recorded as household or government consumption. 3. Capital, labor, and income allocation Construct sectoral capital stocks using the perpetual inventory method with asset-specific depreciation rates and steady-state initial conditions. Allocate employment and labor compensation by economic activity to each sector. Allocate gross operating surplus proportionally to consumption of fixed capital; imputed rents from reclassified capital are added to E-Sector consumption to maintain accounting consistency. 4. Energy and exergy accounting Compile final energy balances by carrier and activity and convert them to final exergy using standard coefficients. Allocate final exergy to useful end-uses (e.g. heat, mechanical drive, lighting, muscle work) and apply end-use–specific second-law efficiencies to estimate useful exergy flows. Aggregate useful exergy by sector, distinguishing E-Sector own uses, intermediate flows to NE-Sector production, and direct household/government consumption. 5. Integration and price estimation Link useful exergy flows to reclassified monetary accounts. Compute demand-side useful exergy prices as total expenditure on useful exergy divided by useful exergy output, and supply-side prices as E-Sector gross value added plus imports divided by useful exergy output. Check consistency between expenditure, income, and output identities for each year.

Institutions

Categories

Macroeconomics, Energy Economics, Ecological Economics, Energy in Economic System

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