Applied Econ Research Institute Saves Dearborn County $$$

Dearborn County, Indiana, may be one of the fastest growing communities and job generators in the Tri-state area, but officials there know better than to rest on their laurels. That’s why the new Dearborn County Economic Development Initiative (DCEDI) has joined forces with McMicken’s Applied Economics Research Institute.

Since 1995, the county’s population has grown by 9.7 percent and jobs by 38.6 percent. Most of the growth has come from Argosy Casino and Hotel and its 2,300 employees. DCEDI realizes the need to diversify the economic base, but operates on a budget of less than $300,000 per year. Nowhere near enough to pay for the kind of regional economic analysis necessary to satisfy its objectives.

Tom Zinn, director of the institute, knew how to solve DCEDI’s problem and at the same time provide economics graduate students with invaluable hands-on experience. He arranged to have thirteen graduate students spend the spring quarter collecting and organizing the county’s existing economic data and creating and analyzing new data to be used for marketing the area.

James West, president of DCEDI, is enthusiastic about the high quality, free services: “This project will put DCEDI months ahead of our development schedule. We will soon have a level of sophistication in our data resources that exceeds many of our competitors. In addition, UC’s Applied Economics Research Institute saved us the expense of a six-figure consulting fee on the open market, if we could even find someone able to generate this kind of data.”

The students’ assignments will include measuring the county’s total economic activity, comparing its industrial mix to that of the state, greater Cincinnati, and the nation, figuring out its competitive market advantages, and identifying both industries that might make a good fit for the area and supply chain relationships to assist existing industries. All in all, an enormously beneficial service for Dearborn County and an exceptionally good learning tool for bright graduate students.