The way different industries in the US economy grow and shrink together is influenced by how they use materials from each other. By studying the production of durable and nondurable goods, researchers found that when industries use materials from each other, their employment and output tend to move in the same direction. This means that when one industry is doing well, others that provide materials to it also benefit. The study also found that the price of nondurable goods tends to go up when the economy is doing well.