A regional planning model and its application to South Eastern Australia

A mathematical regional planning model is developed primarily for Australian conditions but is sufficiently general for applications elsewhere. The model has an input-output framework with constraints on labour, production, investment, exports and imports, and consumption. The objective function of the model includes production, labour, intermediate demand, consumption, investment, export and import terms (all linear) plus transportation cost terms (quasi-quadratic). The objective and the constraints may be manipulated to reflect various community goals such as maximize exports minus imports, minimize or constrain unemployment, minimize investment, etc.