Marine ports are often described as economic engines, yet published impact studies can be difficult to interpret because they combine accounting identities (direct activity) with multiplier-mediated spillovers (indirect and induced effects). This paper reframes a standard input-output (I-O) impact study as a decomposable empirical object and applies that approach to the Port of Vancouver's 2021 economic impact estimates for British Columbia and Canada. Using figures reported in the Port of Vancouver 2021 Economic Impact Study executive summary prepared by InterVISTAS Consulting Inc. for the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, the analysis reports the induced component's size, shares, and geographic residual (Canada minus British Columbia), and derives simple intensity ratios (GDP and output per induced FTE) to clarify what induced impacts represent. In 2021, induced impacts account for approximately 20% of total employment in British Columbia and approximately 24% nationally, indicating that household respending of port-linked labor income is a material component of the reported footprint. The paper then integrates transaction cost economics (TCE) as a methods overlay to interpret the port as a contracting system coordinating high-specificity, time-sensitive transactions under uncertainty, and to provide a portable coding protocol for comparative studies across ports. The contribution is not a re-estimation of multipliers, but a disciplined decomposition that clarifies interpretation, scope conditions, and governance-relevant mechanisms.

Keywords: ports; economic impact; input-output analysis; induced effects; transaction cost economics; port governance ReferencesCoase, R. H. (1937). The nature of the firm. Economica, 4(16), 386-405. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0335.1937.tb00002.xInterVISTAS Consulting Inc. (2024, June 25). Port of Vancouver: 2021 economic impact study (Executive summary). Prepared for Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. https://www.portvancouver.com/sites/default/files/2024-08/2021-Port-of-Vancouver-Economic-Impact-Study-EXEC-SUMMARY-25Jun2024.pdfMiller, R. E., & Blair, P. D. (2009). Input-output analysis: Foundations and extensions (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.Notteboom, T. (2006). Concession agreements as port governance tools. Research in Transportation Economics, 17, 437-455.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2014). The competitiveness of global port-cities. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264205277-enSaeed, N. (2018). Governance mode for port congestion mitigation: A transaction cost perspective. Netnomics: Economic Research and Electronic Networking, 19(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11066-018-9123-4Williamson, O. E. (1979). Transaction-cost economics: The governance of contractual relations. Journal of Law and Economics, 22(2), 233-261. https://doi.org/10.1086/466942

The article is a journal-style research note that uses the Port of Vancouver’s published 2021 Economic Impact Study (executive summary) as a structured dataset and then decomposes the port’s reported economic footprint into direct, indirect, and induced components for both British Columbia and Canada. It reproduces the key tables (jobs/FTEs, wages, GDP, and output), calculates simple derived metrics—especially the share and scale of induced impacts and the implied “outside B.C.” residual—and uses these to clarify what “total impacts” mean in an input–output framework. The paper then adds transaction cost economics (TCE) as an interpretive methods overlay, framing the port as a governance system coordinating high-specificity, time-sensitive transactions under uncertainty, and explaining why the induced (household-spending) layer is a material part of the measured footprint.