About IO-Snap
As an extension of their collaborative research efforts at the Regional Research Institute at West Virginia University, Randall Jackson and Christa (Jensen) Court developed the IO-Snap software package to facilitate the use of BEA's input-output data from US national supply and use tables.
In addition to comprehensive economic data provision, IO-Snap is a software application with many analytical features including all aspects of fundamental input-output analyses. Data can be edited and displayed in a variety of formats and compared and contrasted across geographical definitions at different times. Cut and paste options are enabled throughout so that users can easily transfer data to spreadsheets for further analysis, graphing, etc.
Our software supports the generation of Supply and Use Tables for the US, for states, for groups of states, and for generic regions defined by user input-data. In the process of assembling the various utilities that support national and state-level input-output analysis, we also have created an environment that facilitates inter-state comparisons of input-output related variables such as employment and compensation.
IO-Snap is also built with data manipulation capabilities so that users are free to edit the data, which is an essential feature for building many types of regional models. IO-Snap is designed to provide users with maximum flexibility in modifying and manipulating national and regional IO data.
IO-Snap Developers
Dr. Randall Jackson joined the West Virginia University faculty as Regional Research Institute (RRI) Director and Professor of Geology and Geography in January 2002. Prior appointments include the Geography department and the Center for Governmental Studies at Northern Illinois University and the department of Geography at The Ohio State University. While at OSU, he also served two years as Associate Director for Research Computing. During his two decades at WVU, he held Adjunct Professorships in Economics and Resource Economics at WVU, Geography at The Ohio State University and Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.
As RRI Director, Dr. Jackson managed or participated in funded research projects totaling more than $30M. Over two decades, the RRI hosted dozens of international visiting scholars from countries including Brazil, Chile, China, S. Korea, Australia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Hungary, the Netherlands, and the U.K., among others, hosted several annual marquis seminar events featuring renowned scholars, and supported nearly six dozen graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from the U.S. Brazil, Chile, China, Eritrea, Hungary, India, Iran, Ethiopia, Italy, Taiwan, and the U.K., among others. The diversity of the RRI research team was key component of its success and productivity and lead to an atmosphere of understanding and mutual respect.
Dr. Jackson’s research interests center on regional economic health, performance, development, and sustainability with topics ranging from regional economic development strategies through the refinement and reformulation of regional economic modeling frameworks to interregional trade and conjoined macroeconomic energy and environmental modeling. He has managed and or participated in funded research projects totaling more than $30M. Support for these projects came a variety of sources, including from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the WV Division of Energy, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Chicago World Fair Authority, the Chrysler Corporation, and Dominion Resources.
He has published in a wide range of academic journals and has served on the editorial boards of The Professional Geographer, Papers in Regional Science, the Journal of Regional Science, Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, International Regional Science Review, Spatial Statistics (Hungarian), the Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, Economic Systems Research, and Geographical Analysis. He has participated on NSF review panels and has served on the Board of Directors for the Western Regional Science Association and on the Southern Regional Science Association Council. He was the 2006-2007 Chair of the North American Regional Science Council and received the David E. Boyce Award for Distinguished Service to the Regional Science Association, International, where he served as the editor of the Association's Newsletter and established and maintained its first primary Internet web site. He is an elected Fellow of the Southern Regional Science Association, where he also served as President, and an elected Fellow of the Regional Science Association, International. While at WVU, he was named Benedum Distinguished Scholar and in recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the WV Association of Geospatial Professionals.
In the private sector, Dr. Jackson is President and Owner at EconAlyze, LLC, where he has conducted a variety of regional economic analyses, developed interregional accounting frameworks, and engaged in historical demographic research to support expert testimony in environmental and health impacts litigation. His client list includes the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Cleveland State University, WSP (formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff), First Energy, state and local governments, and law firms including Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor, P.A., Pensacola, FL; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP, Washington, DC; Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, LLP, Cincinnati, OH; The Calwell Practice, PLLC, Charleston, WV.
A list of works in print can be found here on the EconAlyze, LLC website.
Dr. Christa (Jensen) Court has been involved in numerous funded projects involving input-output analysis and impacts assessments over the last decade and has a growing list of related publications. She has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Spanish from Middle Tennessee State University and a Masters and Ph.D. in Economics from West Virginia University. During her time at West Virginia University, Christa held the position of Graduate Research Fellow at the Regional Research Institute. Christa then spent 4 years as a Staff Scientist at MRIGlobal, an independent, not-for-profit research institute that specializes in innovation, technical excellence, and problem solving across the full spectrum of research and development. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Regional Economics and Director of the Economic Impact Analysis Program in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida.