Input-Output

a method of the simultaneous description of expenditures for the production of specified products and the use (distribution) of the production. The method was first used in the USSR in calculating the intersectoral balance as a part of the national economic balance for 1923–24. In capitalist countries the input-output method was used in the 1930’s for studying the structure of the American economy. In the input-output method the expenditures for and the distribution of production are clearly shown on a table resembling a chess board; in the table a line and a column correspond to each type of product included in the nomenclature. The elements shown in each column characterize the use of the production as input for the production of all the other products being analyzed, as well as for other purposes.