The Trend and Problem of Interregional Input-Output Analysis

Abstract

Input-output analysis is the name given to an analytical framework developed by Leontief in the late 1930s. Originally, applications of the input-output model were carried out at national levels. More recently, interest in economic analysis at the regional level has led to modifications of the input-output model in order to deal with the peculiarities of regional problems.
There is an enormous amount of input-output work at the regional level. Examples of some of the earliest regional applications are found in the works by Moore and Petersen, Isard and Kuenne, Miller and/or Hirsch, etc. In this paper, some retrospects for each representative method have been done so as to clarify the remaining subjects and/or research areas in the near future.
We then refer to the outline of the accounting systems of interregional input-output analysis. The full interregional model, which was proposed by Isard, in which an n-sector r-region economy was portrayed by elements a_??_ (i.e., the flows of output from sector i in region r to sector j in region s) has rarely been implemented empirically. In their place, a number of modifications have been proposed so far, which are briefly explained in turn. Subsequently we explain, in this paper, how to define and measure an interregional feedback effect in multiregional settings, together with our calculated results based on our empirical studies.
Lastly, we refer to some problems and new directions of input-output analysis. Judging from the past empirical studies of the input-outout model at the regional level, it is clear that the importance of linking the input-output model with other parts of the social-economic system and/or environmental system should be enhanced. Thus, the role of the “regional science, ” which has the characteristic of interdisciplinary, open-minded and policy-oriented, might become more important in the forseeable future.