tailieunhanh - MEASURING ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS

For the executive, physical needs have probably already been satisfi ed in the preceding middle management career and are not relevant. Security is arguably reduced for the executive, due to higher risk of dismissal for poor performance. Satisfaction of the need for belonging is also questionable, as the holding of the power to discipline or dismiss other employees in a fi rm pre- sumably reduces the ties of friendship to them. Conversely, the existence of an “old boys club” among executives suggests that being an executive represents belonging to a prestige group in itself. Th e desire for. | Economic Development Research Group April 1997 MEASURING ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF PROJECTS AND PROGRAMS Glen Weisbrod Economic Development Research Group burton Weisbrod Economics Dept. Northwestern UNIV. There is often interest in assessing the local or regional economic impacts of a project program or policy. However economic impacts are easily misrepresented. This primer explains the fundamental options and tradeoffs involved in selecting the right kind of techniques for assessing economic impacts and explains how to match the appropriate methods to different kinds of applications or situations. 1. What are Economic Impacts Economic impacts are effects on the level of economic activity in a given area. They may be viewed in terms of 1 business output or sales volume 2 value added or gross regional product 3 wealth including property values 4 personal income including wages or 5 jobs. Any of these measures can be an indicator of improvement in the economic well-being of area residents which is usually the major goal of economic development efforts. The net economic impact is usually viewed as the expansion or contraction of an area s economy resulting from changes in . opening closing expansion or contraction of a facility project or program. Sometimes there is also interest in assessing the economic impact of an already existing facility or project. This is usually viewed in terms of the jobs income and or business sales that are directly or indirectly supported by the facility or project. Such measures actually represent the gross effect -- . the facility s or project s role in or contribution to the area economy. That is not necessarily the same as the net impact particularly if other activities would be expected to enter or expand in the absence of this facility or project. Economic impacts are different from the valuation of individual user benefits of a particular facility or service and they are also different from broader social impacts. The user .