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IMPLAN Blog

Never Tell Me the Odds

Posted by Adam Shoaf on April 11, 2018

Understanding the importance of Economic Impact Analysis for Project Feasibility

We all know what happens when plans go awry. Money is lost, people lose their jobs, and buildings are abandoned mid-construction. One of the most common examples of poor planning is the Death Star. That’s right, the Death Star. From the famous Star Wars original trilogy, the Death Star conveys the idea of economic poor planning in matters of cost and execution. According to the Washington Post in January 2013, a petition reached the White House to build the Death Star. The White House of course denied the petition as it would be morally irresponsible to build a giant super weapon that could destroy worlds, and that its cost would be astronomically high (about 850 quadrillion dollars—that’s 850 with 15 zeros behind it).

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Topics: Data, Feasibility Study

IMPLAN’s Gravity Model and Trade Flow RPCs

Posted by Jenny Thorvaldson on March 29, 2018

1. Intro

In recent years, there has been growing interest in using multiregional social accounting matrix (SAM) models. These models require reliable estimates of inter-regional trade. Because detailed data on the commodity-specific trade between counties are not available, several estimation techniques have been used.

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Topics: Data

The Economic Impact of Increasing Exports of Vibranium from Wakanda

Posted by Tim French on March 22, 2018
The aim of this study is to examine the economic impacts of increasing exports of Vibranium from the African nation of Wakanda. With the recent exposure of Wakandan technology and abundant vibranium resources on the global stage, many have begun to ponder what impact such an increase would have on the already wealthy country.
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Topics: Data, Technology

What the Brewers Association Can Teach Us About Contribution and Impact Analyses

Posted by Tim French on March 9, 2018

There’s never an easy path to affecting policy change whether we’re talking on the national, state, or local level. But among the tools available to give clarity to the conversation, economic contribution and economic impact analyses rank among the most widely used.

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Topics: Data, Economics, Nonprofit, Contribution Analysis

Get funding. Do great things.

Posted by Tim French on March 8, 2018

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?

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Topics: Data, Economics

4 Critical Steps to Take When Measuring Tourism’s Impact in Your Region

Posted by Sarah K. M. Gross on March 7, 2018

IMPLAN can be used to quantify the impact of a given industry on its local economy, including ones as varied and nuanced as Tourism.

Late last year, we published an example of this—a case study highlighting how the City of Baltimore and the Waterfront Partnership illustrated the need for reinvestment in its Inner Harbor using impact analysis. Much news media attention and high level support (from the city’s then-mayor and the CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee) for the reinvigoration of the harbor was garnered as a result of the analysis using IMPLAN data. You can read that case study here.

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Topics: Data, Economics

Good, Better, and Best Impact Analyses

Posted by Andi Russell on February 28, 2018

So, you’re a business professional, consultant, researcher, or local government or agency hoping to gain insight and quantify the impact of an industry, a new or existing business, expected growth or changes, or a specific event to the economy of a particular region.

You're going to want to choose a widely used database and software package that uses input-output analysis based on interdependencies of economic sectors.

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Topics: Data, Economics

Taking the 30,000-foot Perspective on Economic Impact Modeling

Posted by Tim French on February 21, 2018

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.

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Topics: Data

An Apples-to-apples Look at Amazon HQ2 Candidate Cities

Posted by Tim French on February 14, 2018

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.

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Topics: Data

Robots Aren't Killing Jobs... They're Changing the Economy.

Posted by Adam Smith on February 7, 2018

Technology has been scary lately if you’re employed in manual labor.

Every few weeks in the news cycle it seems as though apocalyptic headlines like “Technology could kill 5 million jobs by 2020 ” or “Robots will destroy our jobs – and we're not ready for it ” creep above the fold.

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Topics: Employment, Skill Biased Technical Change, Technology

Why IMPLAN?

Put simply, IMPLAN is built for everyone.

Together, our software and data give you a window into your region of study — like one gigantic transaction log for the local economy. Chances are that if your project or business has a financial component, then IMPLAN can reveal some sometimes surprising detail about how your project relates to the local, state, or national economy.

What used to take economists weeks can be done in minutes. By anyone!

But you're not alone, IMPLAN's best benefits go beyond the work done in the tool:

  • Easy to learn and use
  • Outstanding customer support
  • Access to orientations, trainings, and project consultations
  • Instills confidence in your analyses

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