Category: Economic Impact Analyses

Atlanta Housing (formerly called Atlanta Housing Authority) was founded in 1938 and is considered the very first and oldest housing authority in the United States. Today, Atlanta Housing (AH) is the largest housing agency in Georgia and one of the largest in the United States, serving approximately 50,000 people.

This report quantifies the economic impact of AH within the primary investment area of the City of Atlanta. Specifically, the economic impact was done for a period of 6 years – 2014 through 2019. This period was chosen because it corresponds to the end of the mortgage and credit crisis, and overall stabilization of the economy. The analysis is done for three major expenditure components – capital spending, operational spending, and housing subsidy payments (which are a sub-component of operational spending). This research will provide a baseline from which future planning decisions may be calculated and bench marked.

This report examines the impact that the music industry has on the Georgia economy.  Excluding music tourism, the economic impact of the music industry in Georgia in 2016 was $3.5 billion. There were nearly 17,000 people employed by, or who spent a significant part of their time, and/or received a significant part of their income from the music industry.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s) engaged the Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech to assess their economic and fiscal impact on the State of Georgia. Children’s is the state’s 15^th largest employer, and ranks 20^th with respect to total payroll. Below is a quick summary of the economic and fiscal impact study.

The economic impact of Children’s represents the difference in the Georgia economy between having and not having Children’s. The focus here is on resources that would likely not exist in the state were it not for Children’s. This includes 1) resources that Children’s brings in from outside the state, and 2) resources that are already in Georgia, but would leave the state if Children’s did not exist. Obviously, many of the services provided by Children’s are available from other providers who would be able to fill in the gap left by Children’s. However, some services are not available from other providers, and some, though available, would not be able to capture all of the demand. A detailed analysis of the services Children’s provides and the alternative providers in Georgia allowed for an estimate of the extent to which Children’s patients would likely seek treatment outside of Georgia if Children’s did not exist. Based on the structure of the Georgia economy, the economic impact of Children’s is $1.5 billion in economic output across the state and the employment of nearly 12,300 people earning more than $700 million in wages, salaries, and benefits.

Fiscal impact analysis takes the above results and estimates how those levels of economic activity influence both the expenditures made by government and the revenues that will accrue to government. When state revenues exceed expenditures, the result is positive net revenue, which is analogous to what the private sector would call “profit.” Using a proprietary state fiscal impact model developed by the Center for Economic Development Research at Georgia Tech, it is estimated that the economic impact of Children’s generates about $75.6 million in revenue for the State of Georgia, and $37.5 million in new expenses. Therefore, the net fiscal impact of Children’s on the State of Georgia is a positive $38.1 million.