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The Review of Economics and Statistics Vol. 41 No. 4 1959

Interindustry Relations of a Metropolitan Area

Werner Z. Hirsch

Abstract

A GREAT deal of interest in metropolitan area analysis centers around the economic impact of autonomous forces upon any of the area's sectors and upon its totality. Researchers have often felt that even approximate knowledge of the structural relationship of the local economy would greatly facilitate their work. An interindustry flow table has been prepared for the St. Louis area, one of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the United States. From such a table it is but a short step to technical coefficients and the inverse matrix. Furthermore, from these tables income and employment multipliers can be estimated. Both are powerful tools in assessing the impact of final demand changes upon the economic activity of a metropolitan area. Much serious criticism has been leveled in the past against area technical coefficients which are deduced from national ones pertaining to an outdated period. This study undertakes to estimate 1955 coefficients with the help of data obtained directly from a sample of private and public bodies which together constitute the St. Louis metropolitan area economy. Based upon this information some activity and impact projections are attempted.

DOI
10.2307/1927263
Volume
41
Issue
4
Pages
360
Sources
openalex crossref

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