Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Refining the Isard Multiregional
Input-Output Model: Theory,
Operationality and Extensions
Jiyoung Park and Harry W. Richardson
Abstract
Isard demonstrated as early as 1951 that traditional (national) I-O models are
inadequate because they cannot capture the effects of linkages and interactions
among regions. To examine the full (short-term) impacts of unexpected events,
such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters on the U.S. economy, the economic
links among states (e.g. interregional trade, based on detailed shipments data) had
also be analyzed. IMPLAN provided State input-output data. FewMRIO models
have been implemented (since Polenske's attempt in 1980), but the potential
increased after 1993 when the Commodity Flow Surveys (CFS) were introduced.
This chapter introduces our model, the National Interstate Economic Model
(NIEMO) which is an attempt to operationalize Isard's ideas fully, and covers
52 regions (the 50 States, Washington DC, and the “rest of the world”) and
47 (29 commodity and 18 service) sectors. This was made possible by the
expansion of the data base and the dramatic improvement in computer capacity.
Much of the chapter explains how the model was built. A key step was the
creation of conversion tables to make IMPLAN and CFS data compatible, and
two sets of coefficients (industrial trade and regional interindustry). Model
extensions were also introduced, TransNIEMO (to integrate the national highway
