IMPLAN Blog

Funding. It’s a word that strikes fear in public and private institutions alike. An almost sisyphean task that repeats on daily, monthly, annual cycles without end. It echos on the radio, online, in emails from museums, charities, and alma maters. And in the end, how do you know if the chase for funding had the desired, tangible effect?

In 2015, a study released by Bootstrap Solutions with help from the University of Nevada-Reno outlined the economic benefits brought to Idaho by the Idaho Army National Guard in the Treasure Valley. Results from this study found that the annual activities of the Idaho Army National Guard supported 2,800 direct and indirect jobs and contributed more than $155 million to the local economy. The study appeared sound and was very well-received. That’s when things got interesting.

Tale of twenty cities

Only weeks ago Amazon announced the top 20 candidate cities still in the running to capture the lofty honor of being home to Amazon’s second headquarters—or ‘HQ2’. Amazon culled their short list from a whopping 238 bids since the deadline for submissions in mid-October 2017. Factors affecting the decision process included proximity to a city center, quality of commute for potential workers, proximity to an airport, demographic diversity, and an emphasis on revitalizing an existing building rather than moving into something newly-constructed.

This week saw the release of IMPLAN’s Panel Data, which opens up new opportunities for statistical, shift share, or industry growth analyses—to name just a few.