Filter: Research

Most Dynamic Micropolitans: 2022

COVID-19 created unique challenges and opportunities for America’s micropolitan areas—towns with 10,000 to 50,000 residents and the outlying areas with close economic ties to those communities. In some ways, these challenges and opportunities rewrote the guide to micropolitan economic success, while in other ways they simply reordered the bullet points on that guide. “Most Dynamic… Continue reading Most Dynamic Micropolitans: 2022

Keepers Of A Healthy Heartland: Strategies For Building A Robust Health Care Workforce

As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is keenly aware of the importance of our health care infrastructure to protect and treat disease, and the pandemic particularly worsened the vulnerability of the health care system to a lack of workforce. Several related studies focus on the more educated components of the health care… Continue reading Keepers Of A Healthy Heartland: Strategies For Building A Robust Health Care Workforce

Research to Renewal: Advancing University Tech Transfer 

The American research university is a unique institution that much of the world has long tried to emulate.Many times under-appreciated in the U.S., research universities are one of the most important knowledge assets of cities and states for economic development purposes. These universities influence the economic prospects of their regions and the nation overall in… Continue reading Research to Renewal: Advancing University Tech Transfer 

Most Dynamic Metros, 2021

Executive Summary The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life and contracted our local economy in unprecedented ways. That is why the underlying structural composition of metropolitan economies played a larger role than ever. This 2021 edition of our annual Most Dynamic Metropolitans (MDM) report sets out to identify which locales are making themselves more resilient and moving… Continue reading Most Dynamic Metros, 2021

Economic Savings in America: A Story of Public-Private Partnership in Rapid COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment

The rapid development and deployment of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic lessened the impact of the virus on the economy, generating an estimated economic savings in the U.S. of $438 billion in terms of 2021 real GDP gain, or 2.3% of 2021 real GDP. These savings, and the development of the vaccine itself, are possible because of the United States’ unique public-private partnership between government agencies, academia and the biopharmaceutical industry that supports innovations in disease therapy.

Heartland of Opportunity

This report focuses on how to identify opportunity occupations for working-class people and what locations are well suited to grow and support these occupations. Can the American Dream be saved? The U.S. middle-class, which epitomizes American values such as hard work, commitment to family and the expectation that a relatively secure future is achievable for almost all, is less easily obtained today than… Continue reading Heartland of Opportunity

Arkansas Economic Recovery Strategy

Commissioned By The Governor’s Taskforce For Economic Recovery COVID-19 has caused substantial economic dislocations in Arkansas and across the nation. It has accelerated changes that were already underway, such as the ability to work remotely on a large scale and the necessity for high-speed internet access to conduct commerce, obtain educational and workforce training and… Continue reading Arkansas Economic Recovery Strategy