In his response to
Closure in Cole's Reformulated Leontief Model (Jackson et al. 1997) Cole presents the mechanics of his solution. His spreadsheet demonstration of the model, however, fails
to fully address the conceptual issues and model specification concerns raised in our critique. His demonstration does enable
us to provide a sorely needed formalization that pinpoints the inconsistencies in his model. While we join with Cole in urging
modellers to strive for clarity, transparency, and utility, we caution against allowing these goals to cause us to lose sight
of internal consistency requirements.
JEL classification:C67, R15, B41
Key words:Extended input-output, lagged expenditures, model validity
Received: 9 September 1998 / Accepted: 1 March 1999