Estimating interregional economic impacts:an evaluation of nonsurvey, semisurvey, and full-survey methods

Literature shows that nonsurvey input-output tables tend to produce regional multipliers with systematic upward biases. This paper explores the related, relatively uncharted territory of nonsurvey versus survey impact studies by means of a series of simulations. The base case is provided by a very detailed five region survey of both the forward and the-backward impacts of the energy-distribution sector in the four northern provinces of. the Netherlands. To deal adequately with the two-sided dependence between a firm or sector and a region, as opposed to using the traditional (gross) multipliers, we argue in favor of using a new multiplier concept: the net multiplier. Next, from examining alternative impact study methods ranging from quick and dirty, via semiextensive, to full-survey methods, we conclude that using even aggregate, first-order impact information is more important than using a very detailed survey-based input-output model.