Accounting for the Linkages of Agriculture in Hawaii's Economy with an Input-Output Model : A Final Demand-Based Approach

Agriculture is not a large contributor to Hawaii's economy but despite the recent decline in the sugar industry it is an important sector in terms of its contribution to food supply, income, and employment. Agriculture influences the economy as it procures production inputs from and provides inputs to other sectors in the economy. A theoretically sound input-output framework is suggested for investigating the interdependence between agricultural and other sectors of the economy. This paper also provides a review and identifies shortcomings of other approaches used in estimating the industry`s contributions to the economy. The non-agricultural final demands accounted for about 20% of total agricultural output, value added, labor income, and employment. The indirect contribution of agricultural final demands and related distribution services to other sectors constituted about 20% of total output and labor income, 22% of value added, and 16% of total employment generated by agricultural final demands and related trade and distribution services