Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a brief introduction to input-output tables and multipliers, and refers to the main analytical uses of the technique. It provides a brief introduction to the 'survey versus non-survey' debate, and discusses in some detail the literature relating to non-survey based tables. The book focuses more directly on the application of the Generation of Regional Input-Output Tables (GRIT) system. The increased concern with regional economic planning in recent years has been almost universal. GRIT relies on a series of mechanical steps to produce regional coefficients, but provides the opportunity at three stages for the insertion of 'superior data', i.e. data considered by the analyst to be more reliable than those produced by the mechanical processes. The book discusses the accounting conventions and constraints placed on the project.