Economists research, analyze trends
Most economists spend some time teaching, but the vast majority of our time is spent doing research.
Economic Development
Articles
Let’s use old terminal for distribution hub
The city should organize a public-private partnership to create a multi-modal distribution community at the site of the former
Indianapolis Airport terminal.
Election of president, governor signals Hoosiers desire changes
Indiana’s blue vote for president-elect Barack Obama on Election Day was a sign that Hoosiers are ready for change. So was
the state’s red vote to keep incumbent Gov. Mitch Daniels in office. In this case, the status quo means more change. Daniels
has been making gutsy and sometimes unpopular moves since taking office four years ago. He ran on a promise to keep shaking
things up.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway ponders hotel, moving museum
Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are in talks to move their Hall of Fame Museum from the interior of the oval to a spot
just outside the south end of the track, an area that could also house a new Speedway hotel.
Leaders analyze Denver’s commuter transit
Sixty Indianapolis-area business and civic leaders visited Denver Oct. 19-21 as
part of the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce 2008 Leadership Exchange and paid close attention to public transportation, especially commuter trains.
Pay off debts, invest in education, enrich lives
In 2008, a Hoosier economist suggests consumers first pay off their debts, then invest in a liberal education and other causes
that enrich lives.
Residents to decide fate of township assessors
In this election, citizens must decide whether the assessing duties of the elected township assessor in the township should
be transferred to the county assessor.
New rail route connects Hendricks to West Coast: Line should bolster county’s distribution industry
A new rail route launched last month between Los Angeles and CSX’s Avon rail yard could give a further boost to Hendricks County’s booming warehousing-and-distribution industry. The county already hosts some 29 million square feet of warehouse space. However, it lacked a direct connection to the teeming Port of Long Beach in Los Angeles, a major gateway for U.S./ Asian trade. Anyone in the Hendricks County area wishing to send or receive goods from that port by rail had to…
EYE ON THE PIE: Unemployment rates highly variable
I apologize for filling a column with numbers. But there is no other way of depicting the unemployment situation in Indiana. As we have learned in the current financial crisis, lack of knowledge is the root of calamity. In August, the latest date for which we have information, Indiana’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, compared with 4.5 percent a year earlier. Nationally, the unemployment rate had gone from 4.7 percent in August 2007 to 6.1 percent this year. This stronger…
A renewed call for renewable energy mandate: State bucks trend by not forcing utilities to diversify
Indiana has become the lone state in the upper Midwest not requiring that utilities supply a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind turbines and landfill gas. Last month, Michigan’s legislature mandated that at least 10 percent of electricity supplied in that state be generated from renewable sources by 2015. Indiana’s conspicuous lack of a standard, along with growing environmental concerns over coal, could improve prospects for passing a standard during the 2009 session of the…
Gubernatorial candidates Daniels, Thompson see economic development differently
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson promises to buoy Indiana’s slumping rural counties with a three-tiered
incentive plan. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has a different vision for stoking the state economy. He wants to build on Indiana’s
strengths–such as world-class research at universities–to innovate and create jobs.
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: We shouldn’t let market mayhem obscure progress
Amid all this joyless market watching, this much is clear: The financial markets and the economy are going to get worse before they get better. But market watching is never a healthy sport, especially since it tends to make us lose track of the real economy at times like these. Over the past couple of weeks, the real economy has shown a bit of resilience. And here in Indiana, really great news has been lost in the wake of the…
Bumpy road ahead for truck-driving schools?: Slowing freight and federal standards could hurt prospects and raise costs
With a driver shortage as bad as the freight industry says, one might think operating a truck-driving school would be a license to print money. But proposed federal rules to toughen training standards and, lately, a fishtailing economy could bring a shakeout among schools. There are even rumblings that a few big carriers that contract with driving schools are poised to eliminate tuition reimbursement as they sweat out the economic downturn. “We’re going to start losing schools,” predicted John Priest,…
Purdue professor cooks up healthier way to ‘fry’ food: Invention could make microwaves seem like crock pots
A new cooking technology under development at Purdue University could please both dieters looking for lowercalorie meals and food retailers seeking lower costs. It has the potential to produce “fried” foods using vastly less oil, and to cook them at speeds that make microwave ovens seem as slow as crock pots. A Purdue professor is working with Anderson Tool and Engineering Co. in Madison County to create advanced prototypes of the device, called a “radiant fryer.” The first off the…
IU makes plans to hatch more businesses: Incubator in Bloomington hopes to duplicate success of local Emerging Technologies Center
Ground should be broken late this month or in early November, with completion expected by summer. Cost of the 40,000-square-foot facility-4,000 square feet smaller than the one here-is estimated in the $8 million to $10 million range. While it may be a bit smaller in size, the scope is broader. The new incubator will promote both life sciences companies and information technology firms. That goal differs from the mission of the existing IU Emerging Technologies Center on 10th Street, which…
Arcadia banking on DailyMed: Company hopes product sales can help it escape debt, lift stock
When Arcadia Resources Inc. moved from Southfield, Mich., to Indianapolis last fall, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. crowed with pride. In exchange for incentives worth more than $6 million, the state had landed the headquarters of a publicly traded life sciences firm with more than 5,000 employees. Even better, the company was ready to launch an innovative new product that promises to improve home health care while simultaneously reducing its cost. A year has passed, but investors still aren’t as…
Velodrome becomes slippery slope
You have to give the folks at Indy Parks and Recreation credit for creativity. How many people would consider turning a world-class sporting facility into a glorified sledding hill and hope to profit from it? Shiver…
Lilly Endowment crawls toward diversification goal: Bear market, low Lilly stock price slow selloff
Lilly Endowment Inc. is still on its journey to sell off $2 billion of its Eli Lilly and Co. shares. But after a slow start and a few stops for rest, it may take a little longer to get there than originally thought. The endowment, the single largest holder of Lilly stock, announced its plan to diversify its holdings back in July 2006. For nearly 70 years, the not-for-profit held its wealth almost exclusively in the pharmaceutical company’s stock. So…
City shows up peers in luring, keeping young, educated, married couples
Regional economic development experts say cities must woo talented people while they’re young–in
their 20s or early 30s–because, after that age, people tend to hunker down. The Indianapolis area apparently appeals to at
least two key groups of young people–particularly those already married, according to a new study by researchers at IUPUI.
ON THE RECORD:
O N T H E R E C O R D First Merchants Corp. of Muncie announced Sept. 3 that it has agreed to buy Lincoln Bancorp of Plainfield for about $75 million. The acquisition expands First Merchants’ presence in the Indianapolis area from the northern suburbs into other fast-growing suburbs on the west and south sides. Announcement of the deal sparked a 37-percent runup in the value of Lincoln shares. Elanco, the animal-health division of Eli Lilly and Co.,…