Preface

"We need to achieve more sustainable consumption and production patterns, to increasing‐ ly decouple environmental pressure from economic growth, to ensure sustainable manage‐ ment of natural resources, and to work together in partnership to reduce poverty. Within societies, the luxuries of one generation are often the needs of the next."

> Berglind Ásgeirsdóttir Former Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD

We are more aware of the need to achieve sustainable development than ever before. One of the main factors to achieve the goal of sustainable development is sustainability assessment and reporting because it is not possible to take precautions without understanding the cur‐ rent situation. And also, undoubtedly, future generations have a right to know what kind of world we will leave them.

This book brings together different perspectives on sustainability assessment and reporting. When you look at the chapters, you will understand that sustainability assessment and re‐ porting are addressing interdisciplinary and vast areas. It should be because sustainability assessment and reporting cover all aspects of social, economic and environmental factors. In this five-chapter book, you will see how sustainability assessment and reporting are ad‐ dressed in different areas.

In the first chapter, Susana Santos presents a methodology that allows a better knowledge of the different aspects of the activity of a country, as well as carrying out experiments on its functioning. In this sense, the data of the flows associated with market transactions and transfers, measured by the national accounts of Portugal, are organized in a matrix form by applying the social accounting matrix (SAM)-based approach. The author concludes that the effects of increases in the households' income depend on its origin and the corresponding multiplier effects, which are in turn influenced by the structure of the use of this income.

Lassaad Ben Mahjoub emphasizes the importance of sustainability accounting by focusing on the effect of sustainability reporting in earnings quality in Chapter 2. The author tries to explain the link between earnings quality and sustainability communication using the data of Saudi listed companies. Empirical results show that sustainability reporting has signifi‐ cant effects on income smoothing.

Jaime Fabián Cruz, Yolanda Mena and Vicente Rodríguez-Estévez review the methodolo‐ gies and difficulties for assessing the sustainability in farming systems in Chapter 3. They touch on the need to integrate a comprehensive assessment of ecological, economic and so‐ cial dimensions to achieve sustainable agriculture by comparing the first-, the second- and the third-generation sustainability indexes.

Antonio Valero and Alicia Valero propose an approach—Global System of Environmental-Thermo-Economic Accounts (SETEA)—for accounting for abiotic resource depletion through the second law of thermodynamics in Chapter 4. They suggest 'replacement' as the keyword for reproducing the planetary global accounts, from households to the whole plan‐ et in a comprehensive way.

In the last chapter, Gogoberidze George and Rumiantceva Ekaterina deal with the method of comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of coastal infrastructure systems of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, which allows for analysing the socioeconomic devel‐ opment of the Arctic regions of Russia in order to ensure national security, as well as fore‐ casting the environmental and socioeconomic situation in the coastal zone of the Russian Arctic using simulation prediction methods. Using a comprehensive indicator system, they create a dynamic model of strategic spatial planning of the Russian Arctic regions and the integrated geographic information system of coastal systems and coastal infrastructure of the Russian Arctic 'AZRF Coastal Systems'.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the authors for their high-quality con‐ tributions. The successful completion of this book has been the result of the cooperation of many people. In the end, we would like to thank the Publishing Process Manager, Mr. Julian Virag for his support during the publishing process, as well as the Commissioning Editor, Ms. Ana Pantar for inviting us to be the editors of this book.

> **Soner Gokten** Department of Management Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Baskent University Turkey

#### **Pınar Okan Gokten**

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Using a Social Accounting Matrix for Analysing**

**Using a Social Accounting Matrix for Analysing** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.78602

A social acccounting matrix (SAM) is a tool that has specific features for conducting studies in several different areas, as well as for supporting the policy decision process. Following an application for Portugal, a SAM-based approach is adopted for studying (measuring and modelling) the impact of the introduction of a social policy measure of the increase in households' income on the socio-economic activity of a country, and the associated institutions' income. Numerical and algebraic versions of a SAM enable the identification of the networks of the linkages of the monetary or nominal flows measured by the national accounts and the corresponding structural features, as well as the associated multiplier effects, which are used to measure the impact on the socio-economic activity. This measurement is at a macroeconomic level, using macroeconomic aggre-

**Keywords:** social accounting matrix, national accounts, SAM-based approach,

attention and needs on this process. This activity is known as being economic.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The increasing importance of markets has involved an increasing volume of transactions and a consequent and progressive (re)organisation of the activity of society, which has focused its

Associated to each market transaction are two or more flows with opposite directions, which are often denominated 'inflows' and 'outflows', which balance when the transaction is concluded. The nature of these flows can be the same or not; however, the balance means that when the transaction is concluded, both inflows and outflows have the same value. We can

**Institutions' Income: A Case from Portugal**

**Institutions' Income: A Case from Portugal**

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78602

Susana Santos

Susana Santos

**Abstract**

gates and balances.

**1. Introduction** 

social policy, multiplier effects

Department of International Trade Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University Turkey

**Chapter 1 Provisional chapter**

#### **Using a Social Accounting Matrix for Analysing Institutions' Income: A Case from Portugal Using a Social Accounting Matrix for Analysing Institutions' Income: A Case from Portugal**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.78602

#### Susana Santos Susana Santos

Antonio Valero and Alicia Valero propose an approach—Global System of Environmental-Thermo-Economic Accounts (SETEA)—for accounting for abiotic resource depletion through the second law of thermodynamics in Chapter 4. They suggest 'replacement' as the keyword for reproducing the planetary global accounts, from households to the whole plan‐

In the last chapter, Gogoberidze George and Rumiantceva Ekaterina deal with the method of comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of coastal infrastructure systems of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, which allows for analysing the socioeconomic devel‐ opment of the Arctic regions of Russia in order to ensure national security, as well as fore‐ casting the environmental and socioeconomic situation in the coastal zone of the Russian Arctic using simulation prediction methods. Using a comprehensive indicator system, they create a dynamic model of strategic spatial planning of the Russian Arctic regions and the integrated geographic information system of coastal systems and coastal infrastructure of

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the authors for their high-quality con‐ tributions. The successful completion of this book has been the result of the cooperation of many people. In the end, we would like to thank the Publishing Process Manager, Mr. Julian Virag for his support during the publishing process, as well as the Commissioning Editor,

**Soner Gokten**

Turkey

Turkey

Baskent University

**Pınar Okan Gokten**

Department of Management

Department of International Trade

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences

Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences

et in a comprehensive way.

VIII Preface

the Russian Arctic 'AZRF Coastal Systems'.

Ms. Ana Pantar for inviting us to be the editors of this book.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78602

#### **Abstract**

A social acccounting matrix (SAM) is a tool that has specific features for conducting studies in several different areas, as well as for supporting the policy decision process. Following an application for Portugal, a SAM-based approach is adopted for studying (measuring and modelling) the impact of the introduction of a social policy measure of the increase in households' income on the socio-economic activity of a country, and the associated institutions' income. Numerical and algebraic versions of a SAM enable the identification of the networks of the linkages of the monetary or nominal flows measured by the national accounts and the corresponding structural features, as well as the associated multiplier effects, which are used to measure the impact on the socio-economic activity. This measurement is at a macroeconomic level, using macroeconomic aggregates and balances.

**Keywords:** social accounting matrix, national accounts, SAM-based approach, social policy, multiplier effects
