Economic DevelopmentEconomic Development

Applied Economics provides a variety of research and implementation support services for economic development organizations at all levels including cities, counties, chambers of commerce, regional economic development organizations, utilities, and state agencies. We create customized software tools for economic developers as well as marketing materials, labor market analyses, and other economic research.

These tools include Metrocomp, a user-friendly, customized database application that allows economic developers to create high quality, customized responses and proposals for each client. It contains comparative business climate information at the metro area level on over 300 variables as well as interactive operating cost comparisons.

Another customized software tool is our Regional Economic and Revenue Impact Model. This product, which is described in greater detail in the Economic and Fiscal Impact section, can be used to measure the return on investment from of your economic development program over a one year or multi-year time period. It can also be used to measure the impact of a specific project.

We are also experienced at performing Incentive Analyses. We build customized incentive calculators that can be used by local economic developers to calculate the value of state and local incentives for a particular company. We also conduct detailed analyses of tax revenues and incentives for specific companies on behalf of state and local economic development organizations. The results of these analyses enable them to negotiate effectively when preparing and finalizing incentive agreements. These incentive analyses may include a comparison of taxes and incentives across multiple competing locations.

In addition to software tools, we also create Factbooks and other Marketing Materials for cities and regional organizations. These factbooks contain a variety of information about your community or region including relevant charts and tables along with text highlighting the primary assets and locational advantages your area has to offer a prospective business. Data and graphics from these marketing materials are often used for web pages as well.

We also conduct in Labor Market Studies. These studies assess the skill mix of your areas current workforce and compare this to the occupational needs of your target industries to identify any gaps. We perform an assessment of the local education and training programs and make recommendations as to how they may create programs to make your work force more competitive for particular types of industries.

Applied Economics has also conducted Target Industry Analyses for many cities, counties and regions. These include an analysis of your current economic base and a series of screens to determine industries with the greatest potential for future expansion in the region.

Recent Project Examples

Metrocomp

Incentive Analysis

Marketing Materials

Other Economic Research and Tools