Making Sense Out of Dollars: Economic Analysis for Local Government. A Summary for Local Officials

摘要

This executive summary of a volume designed for local government staff responsible for carrying out economic analysis techniques provides information on supervising such techniques, interpreting the data, and making plans for the future based on the results. Mayors, county executives, council members, managers, or other policy officials may use it in conjunction with the comprehensive handbook, the parent volume. Nine different kinds of economic analyses are reviewed: (1) economic base analysis, (2) employment shifts and shares, (3) local labor market analysis, (4) revenue projections, (5) cost - benefit analysis, (6) cost - effectiveness analysis, (7) pricing for local government, (8) cost - revenue analysis, and (9) tax incidence study. Four sections break each analysis technique down into a description of the analytic process involved, explaining what kinds of data the results are based on; the kinds of questions that lie behind the analysis technique; what situations fit which analysis, and how far the results can be trusted; and sample problems and solutions. This last section includes references to the companion handbook for detailed information on specific problems. Finally, a glossary of terms used in both the handbook and the summary is appended. (Author abstract modified).