mrio_common_metadata provides three things:

• A guide on how the Data Package and Table Schema specifications can be used to make MRIO table more consistently formatted and easier to use.
• Translations of some common MRIO tables to this format
• Utility code to help make the previous two objectives possible

MRIO tables are often given with weird offsets, and multiple or mixed column/row labels, e.g.

Working with this type of data requires writing custom code each time. It's a pain. The biggest problem is the mixing of two data types: The metdata on what each row and column represent, and the numerical table that forms the main body of the worksheet. mrio_common_metadata takes the position that these two data streams should be stored separately. It also requires that data be stored in common formats (compressed CSV) with metadata that meets the Data Package specification.