Issues in the Implementation of Interregional Commodity by Industry Input-Output Models

A number of procedures for generating interregional commodity by industry accounts have been developed recently (Canning and Zhi, 2005; Robinson and Liu, 2006; Jackson et al, 2006; Lindall, Olsen and Alward 2006). While each approach shares a common organizational framework, very little attention has been devoted to the use of these accounts in impacts assessment application. This paper presents the common organizational framework for the data and introduces relevant issues by briefly reviewing its lineage. The paper then addresses a number of issues surrounding many-region modeling applications and demonstrates the implications of adopting different assumptions and approaches.