George W. Morse

MEASURING IMPACTS OF BUSINESS RETENTION AND EXPANSION VISITATION PROGRAMS

Effective program evaluation provides feedback from participants that can be used to make improvements and justify program expenditures. This study describes a method of evaluating the benefits of Business Retention and Expansion (R&E) visitation programs. The effectiveness of this relatively new economic development strategy has not been explored systematically. Opinions of 81 program coordinators across six states were solicited regarding eight key aspects of the benefits of their R&E visitation program. The R&E visitation program was most beneficial at enabling the community to demonstrate a pro-business attitude and at providing data for local economic development strategic planning. The R&E program objectives of helping firms use state and federal programs and providing early warning for plant closures did not rate as well, suggesting a need for changes in the program. Despite these deficiencies, the R&E programs were rated very successful, with eighty-nine percent of respondents recommending it to p...

Evaluating the Economic Impacts of an Evolving Swine Industry: The Importance of Regional Size and Structure

This paper analyzes the economic impacts of swine operations at the county and state level, with attention to how those impacts are affected by the underlying economic structure of the region. Two sizes of farrow-to-finish operations and finishing-only operations were analyzed using IMPLAN. The relative impacts were compared to the effects of recent changes in industry structure. The larger operations provide less in economic benefits to the local county than a larger number of smaller operations. The differences were comparable to the impacts of the small unit exits over the past 4 years.