The Potential Applications of Rural Area Social Accounting Matrices

Abstract

In the prior studies, they mainly used the regional input-output analysis in order to represent the economic circulation structure of the rural area in Japan. This method assumes the coherent economic area that have the industrial structure like meshes of a net. Accordingly this regional input-output table has the same framework as national input-output table. However most parts of rural area in Japan scarcely have the coherent industrial structure. That is why the regional input-output table for rural area in Japan does not fulfill its function enough. Because the industries in the rural area are hardly linked mutually and have large transactions the rest of area. So we cannot use regional input-output analysis generally, when we represent the economic circulation structure of the rural area in Japan. As mentioned above, the characteristic of the economic circulation structure of rural area in Japan is not “industry”. If anything, it is “multiple works-that is the diversity of income opportunity”. In this sense, we insisted in Ogura and Yamamoto (1996) that rural area social accounting matrix (SAM) is effective when we represent the economic circulation structure of the rural area in Japan. The purpose of this paper is the development of the rural area SAM, especially extension to environmental sector and public sector. Because these sectors are important in the rural area in Japan. © 1997, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.