IMPLAN Blog

This weekend, fans of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the NFL at large will pour into Glendale, Arizona for Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium. While in Glendale, they will stay in hotels, feast on beer and wings at local bars and restaurants, and shop for souvenirs to take home to their families. Some will pass time in the Westgate Entertainment District before the game while others will visit grocery stores to stock up on tailgating essentials. 

2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the Rural Development Act of 1972 (RDA). The RDA was  pivotal to getting the ball rolling for IMPLAN to be created in 1976.

As renewable energies take center stage in political policies and public consciousness, IMPLAN is here to help you measure each project’s economic impact. Our recent post Resource Roundup: IMPLAN and Solar Energy focused on giving you the information you need to study the economic impact of a solar energy project. Much of that same information can also be applied to wind power projects. In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at the Offshore Wind Tax Credit Program and how IMPLAN can help you understand the economic impact of wind energy projects, whether you’re a developer, a state authority, or an accounting service provider.

As more and more people recognize the importance of protecting our planet, renewable energies like solar energy are taking center stage, transforming our environment as well as our economies.

An enormous variety of factors are at play in any given economy, and there are countless measuring tools and data sets that can help us better understand what is happening in our economic environment. In times of great change, like we’re experiencing now in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be helpful to take a step back and look at the big picture. IMPLAN data sets provide very granular geographic and industrial levels of detail, with consistent data estimates spanning from 2001 to the most recent IMPLAN data year. These micro data can be used in concert with macro data from other sources to gain a rich understanding of local and regional economies, as well as the national economy. In today’s blog, we’re looking at some measurements that can be used alongside IMPLAN data to gain a better sense of the big picture.

Our webinar, The Economic Impact of a New Business Location, walked through the process for modeling the economic impact of a new business location. In the presentation, considerations for the construction and operations impacts were covered and examined in the context of the Lowe’s Design Center Tower project. If you missed the live presentation, you can watch the recording here. The discussion generated a number of questions highlighting important points about running these analyses. Check out what our economists had to say below:

The coronavirus epidemic has reset the way we understand and examine the economy. With major changes to employment levels and household spending, plus stimulus checks, increased unemployment benefits, and PPP loans, it is crucial that economic data is updated during this time. With that in mind, IMPLAN is proud to announce the release of ground-breaking data and economic impact models for the COVID-19 era: Evolving Economy - COVID Q2-2020.

The most granular employment insight IMPLAN has ever assembled and organized by occupation and core competency is now available for purchase inside the IMPLAN application. Our occupation data shows estimates of employment, wages, hours, and core competencies for 823 different occupations. What you find in the data and how can it be leveraged in your own studies can be a game-changer.

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.

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.