IMPLAN Blog

Across the country, the service industry has felt the consequences of the coronavirus more severely than most. Through the beginning of May, more than 8 million restaurant jobs were lost. While cities and regions of all sizes have felt the strain, social distancing and business restrictions have affected small businesses in towns reliant on tourism spending particularly harshly. One of these towns is Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville, a city located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, is known for its beautiful mountain views, tourist attractions, and incredibly robust brewery scene. 

According to IMPLAN data, the food service industry supports over 18,000 jobs, making it the largest employment sector in the Asheville MSA. When COVID-19 hit and businesses began closing up shop for indeterminate periods of time, it left many uncertain of how they could continue operating. Gathering restrictions and event cancellations posed a unique threat to the more than 100 food trucks that operate in and around Asheville.

If you review the results of an IMPLAN economic impact study, you will not find GDP listed in the results. Naturally the question arises, "What is the GDP?" Within IMPLAN results, that value is actually demonstrated in multiple ways. 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a region in a given period of time (usually a quarter or year). GDP is the sum of value added at every stage of production (the intermediate stages) for all final goods and services produced within a region in a given period of time. In other words, GDP is the wealth created by industry activity.

“How can $1 of spending support more than $1 in the local economy?”

We get questions like this about economic impact analyses all the time. The answer is very straightforward. The results of an input-output (I-O) analysis are broken down into direct, indirect, and induced effects. The combination of these overarching economic effects often total greater than the initial economic input. Each level of effects captures a different portion of the complete economic portrait. In order to understand the totality of an impact, you must conceptualize how each value is defined and what they represent.  

The foundation upon which IMPLAN economic impact analyses are built is the input-output (I-O) model, and the basis for I-O models are multipliers. Multipliers are rates of change that describe how a given change in a particular industry generates impacts in the overall economy (e.g. for every dollar spent in the economy an additional $0.25 of economic activity is generated locally, implying a multiplier of 1.25). What multipliers represent and how they are calculated can vary significantly. 

If you’re looking to conduct an economic impact analysis study, chances are someone like you has performed and published something similar using IMPLAN. Conversely, if you’re attempting to study something unlike anything else, between IMPLAN’s data, applications, and knowledgeable customer success and education services teams, you have all the tools you need to get started.

Developed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over 40 years ago, IMPLAN boasts an unrivaled history of economic expertise. The USFS remains an active user of IMPLAN today along with a multitude of local, state, and federal government entities, a broad range of renowned academics, economic development entities, professional associations, consultants, and the United Nations.

IMPLAN is a platform that combines a set of extensive databases, economic factors, multipliers, and demographic statistics with a highly refined, customizable modeling system. The foundation upon which economic impact analyses are built is the input-output (I-O) model. Understanding I-O analysis and the assumptions they employ are crucial to properly performing and reporting your own analysis.

IMPLAN’s academic roots created a continuing commitment to enhance and promote research into regional economies. To that end, we are making IMPLAN’s Data Library available in a convenient package for departmental, classroom, and library use. 

For nearly 20 years our Data Library has powered our I-O/SAM modeling software, and by making IMPLAN data more accessible, our goal is to promote new research and applications of data to inform decision making for regional economies.   

COVID-19 has the world turned upside down. IMPLAN is no different as we have moved to working remotely instead of heading into the office. As the leader in economic impact modeling data and software, we are being continually asked how to model the economic impacts of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t easy, and with things changing so quickly, it won’t fully be known until the pandemic is under control. No model can predict all of the wide-ranging, short- and long-term impacts of such a far-reaching phenomenon as the COVID-19 pandemic, but here are some ways you can examine what is happening in the U.S. and your community.

News coverage around COVID-19 is unavoidable. The worldwide pandemic has upset lives globally and dominated everyone’s attention for weeks. With the situation seemingly changing every hour, experts across industries have come forward with predictions about all aspects of life including from healthcare, personal finance, the economy, and more. Due to the interconnectedness of our economy, a disruption to any industry has ripple effects throughout other industries and geographies. Foreign travel was one of the first industries to be clearly impacted by the emergence of the coronavirus in China, and impact analyses can demonstrate the reach of those affected by this economic turmoil.

Miami is expecting an economic impact of $854 million from a major event this February, but the source of that economic boom may surprise you. For the last 79 years, the Miami International Boat Show has welcomed boating enthusiasts from around the world for an annual exhibition of watersport technology, products, and recreation. According to a recent study, the economic impact felt in South Florida nearly doubles the contribution expected from the Super Bowl 54.