The Importance of Input Output Planning

In planning using material balances planners first set the target of total output X while the final demand Y is determined as residual. In planning using input output tables the order is reversed so essentially your production is determined by what you need instead of need being residual to what is produced. The pursuit of consistency in equilibrium enabled by input output tables was not what Soviet planners wanted. Their top priority was to maximize their discretionary power. Fear of the abolition of the administrative system of intermediate goods supplies lies at the core of the opposition to input output tables.