Within input–output framework, there are two kinds of economic linkages between sectors. The demand relationship is referred to as backward linkageand the supply relationship is referred to as forward linkage. The analysis of the strengthsof backward and forward linkages allows us to identify the most important sectorsin the economy. Obviously, in an open economy, imported products may also be used in theproduction process. Hence, when increasing production it will also generateadditional imports to support it. That kind of import is called an economicleakage in the sense that it represents a leakage to themultiplier effect .For such assessment in Iran, the distinction between imported and domesticallysupplied inputs, which has been disregarded so far in empirical analysis, is crucial. In This paper, the distinction between imported and domestically producedinputs is taken into account in such a framework, besides an accurate measurement of domestic linkages; one can add a new dimension to the analysis. However, in this paper using the 1380 input-output tables of Iran's linkage and leakage sectors are analyzed.
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