Estimating the impact of a cost increase

IMPLAN - and I/O models in general - are fixed-price models so they aren't used to directly evaluate the impacts of price changes. However, if you can speculate how businesses will respond to a price change then you can evaluate the impacts of the changed businesses behavior. For example, you can't use IMPLAN to evaluate the question "What are the impacts if electricity rates go up by 10%?". However, you might conclude (by some means other than using IMPLAN) that the aluminum plant will reduce its output by $10,000,000 if electricity rates increase by 10%. You could use IMPLAN to evaluate the question "What are the impacts of the aluminum plant reducing its output by $10,000,000?". In other words, you need to provide the information about how businesses respond to the price change itself and then use IMPLAN to evaluate the impacts of those behavioral responses.