Dynamics of Information and Resource Management

This chapter deals with two very important aspects of management science. The first is how to take into account of new information about the economy in the input-output tables (I-O in short) which describes the core of the economy. Input-output tables are the integral part of any traditional planning model (Leontief, 1936; Stone, 1961; Johansen, 1968; Bacharach, 1970; Allen & Gossling, 1975) of an economy. Although nowadays input-output tables are not in use in the developed countries after the immense interests on that subject during the 1960s and 1970s, the applications of input-output tables or their more enlarged version Social Accounting Matrix are widespread for the planning and policy management of the developing countries. However, at the same time statistical services of the developing countries are not strong enough to produce sufficient data to revise and update input-output tables with regular survey data, when new information about the economy are flowing in continuously. The delays in the production of input-output tables can seriously undermine the effective estimation of policy models for these countries. Thus there are needs for appropriate and practically feasible updating techniques for the input-output matrix, which can manage the flows of vital information about the economy without imposing excessive demands on the statistical services.