Economic Impact Analysis
What kind of an impact will a new facility have after it starts production in our community? How many jobs will it create? How many spin-off jobs will result? How much more spending will there be in the community? How much additional local tax revenue should this generate? How will it affect the city and/or county population? What will be the additional costs for the public school system?
These are the types of questions Merchant Community Analysis can answer for you and your community if a new industry is locating in your area. A similar analysis can be done for an existing industry expanding or even a college dormitory expansion.
Mr. Merchant has experience using IMPLAN (IMpact analysis for PLANning) software, and has attended a number of seminars by REMI (Regional Economic Models, Inc.). He has received valuable guidance from Tennessee Valley Authority Economic Development Technical Services. Lastly, he has experience using the Regional Input-Output Multipliers (RIMS II) generated by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Merchant Community Analysis believes that the “one size fits all” approach to economic impact modeling does not apply in every analysis; each study is unique, and requires a custom-made, personal model. Such a model for a new facility may require the purchase of BEA's RIMS II multipliers for the county or region under consideration (currently $275). Then, we will build the model around these multipliers, inputting seemingly unrelated data items such as commuting patterns, tax rates, average household size, and costs for government services. The results will show the estimated economic impact in terms of additional jobs, additional wage income, spending, taxes, and government expenditures.
