Compilation of Input–Output Data from the National Accounts

In this paper, a new method is presented to derive an input–output table from a system of make and use tables. The method, which we call ‘activity technology’, is mathematically equivalent to the well-known commodity technology, but chooses another unit, i.e. the activity. We will argue that, in the activity technology model, negatives can only arise from causes such as heterogeneity and errors in the data. To apply the activity technology, very detailed make and use matrices are required, as well as additional data on the input structures of certain activities. We will describe a method that can incorporate this additional data within the activity technology framework. Statistics Netherlands has adopted the method