INTERPRETING SPATIAL ECONOMIC-STRUCTURE AND SPATIAL MULTIPLIERS - 3 PERSPECTIVES

The measurement and interpretation of spatial economic structure have presented many problems for analysts. The notion of a spatial multipli er has received even less formal attention; part of the motivation for this paper is the examination of the degree to which sectoral decompo sition analysis might prove useful in illuminating the paths of intera ction across space that are associated with changes in exogenous activ ity levels. In this paper, we present three perspectives that examine spatial structure in the context Of an aggregated interregional social accounting matrix for Bangladesh. These perspectives examine structur e at the micro-, meso-, and macrolevels and are interpreted with the a ssistance of several alternative methods, including structural path an alysis, the field of influence, the superposition principle, multiregi onal feedback loop analysis, and the Matrioshka Principle; the results are interpreted analytically and cartographically. Some attention is also devoted to the formulation of a general approach to spatial multi pliers. It is shown that the structure of flows and the structure of i nfluence reveal patterns that, taken together, provide important insig hts into an understanding of structure and may prove to form the basis for the eventual formal presentation of the spatial multiplier.