Measuring Economic Sectors Dependency on Imports with Emphasis on Origin, Destination and Policy Dimensions Using Single Regional Input-Output Table: The Case Study of Mazandaran Province

This paper aims to assess the dependency of Mazandaran province on import sectoral intermediates with emphasis on origin, destination and policy. Using CHARM method, 2011 national and regional accounts, and national input-output table, we update the 2011 Input-Output Table of Mazandaran province, and compute the dependency of Mazandaran economic sectors on import from the other provinces and outside the country. The results are as follows: one, sectors like fabrication of coke fuels, products from refining oil and nuclear fuels, manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, manufacture of basic metals, manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco products, and farming and gardening appear to have the biggest dependency on imports. This means that these sectors supply the biggest share of intermediate imports from origins to Mazandaran economic sectors. Two, the sectors like farming and gardening, wholesale, retailing, repairs of motor vehicles, road transportation, other buildings, animal husbandry, raising silk worm and honey, and hunting fall under imports’ destinations. This means that these sectors are the biggest buyers of intermediate imports, which are imported from the other provinces and outside the country. Third, from the view point of policy implication, our findings show that the greatest dependence on imports occurs in building, industry and agriculture sectors, which means that the intermediate imports will be increased in a faster rate, if policy-makers select each of the mentioned sectors as policy sector in Mazandaran.