URI Economic Impact Report - Autumn 2020

METHODOLOGY

PREPARED BY:

REFERENCES Biotechnology Innovation Organization. (2018). Investment, Innovation and Job Creation in a Growing U.S. Bioscience Industry. https://www.bio.org/sites/default/files/legacy/bioorg/docs/TEConomy_BIO_2018_Report.pdf Brown, K. H., & Heaney, M. T. (1997). A note on measuring the economic impact of institutions of higher education. Research in Higher Education , 38(2), 228-240. Christophersen, K., Nadreau, T., & Olanie, A. (2014). The Rights and Wrongs of Economic Impact Analysis for Colleges and Universities . Retrieved on March 1, 2020 from: https://www.economicmodeling.com/2014/01/07/the-rights-and-wrongs-of- economic-impact-analysis-for-colleges-and-universities/ Elliott, D. S., Levin, S. L., & Meisel, J. B. (1988). Measuring the economic impact of institutions of higher education. Research in Higher Education , 28(1), 17-33. Kantor, S., & Whalley, A. (2014). Knowledge spillovers from research universities: Evidence from endowment value shocks. Review of Economics and Statistics , 96(1), 171-188. Mervis, J. (2020). U.S. academic research stays healthy despite pandemic. Science , 368(6497), 1298. National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education (2020). Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System . [Data file]. Available from https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data Scopus. (2020). [Data set]. Available at www.scopus.com. Siegfried, J. J., Sanderson, A. R., & McHenry, P. (2005). The Economic Impact of Colleges and Universities . Retrieved on March 1, 2020 from: https://ideas.repec.org/p/van/wpaper/0612.html

There is considerable debate in the literature with respect to the approaches that colleges and universities take to calculating economic impact; this concern extends to third party vendors who, despite their alleged objectivity, also stand to benefit from a result favorable to the client. Elliott, Levin, & Meisel (1988) appear to be among the first researchers to raise concerns about broadening of economic impact calculations by colleges and universities. These concerns continued to grow during the past three decades as economic impact studies become a political tool in the review of education appropriation. Christophersen, Nadreau, & Olanie (2014) argued that the approach to economic impact studies conducted on behalf of colleges and universities often leads to overstated impact measures. This issue is further exacerbated among study differences due to different interpretations of what constitutes an economic impact. Dollars generated from outside the state economy are the true value-added, which underscores the importance of external research grants and contracts to URI (see also Brown & Hearney 1997 and Siegfried, Sanderson, & McHenry 2005). Kantor & Whalley (2014) took an empirical approach to determining the local spillover effects from more university activity. The findings indicated that a $1 increase in university expenditures led to an $0.89 increase in average income within a city. Put another way, the overall multiplier effect of university activity is 1.9 (the university’s own dollar plus the external effect). The authors also suggested that these effects are likely larger and would continue to grow over time for universities that are more intensively focused on research and are closer to technologically progressive firms. Given that URI is not located in an urban setting, the committee decided to adopt the baseline of 1.9 as the multiplier effect.

Dr. Peter J. Snyder Vice President for Research & Economic Development Professor of Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Sciences Professor of Art & Art History

Dr. Maling Ebrahimpour Dean of the College of Business Alfred J. Verrecchia-Hasbro Leadership Chair

Jonathan Ross Gilbert PhD Candidate in Marketing

COORDINATING COMMITTEE: Christian Cowan, Edward Huttenhower, Dr. Michael Katz, Melissa McCarthy, Sanjay Mupparapu, and Dr. John M. Stringer.

Special thanks to the following members of the URI community for their invaluable efforts in providing support to this project: Tracey Angell, Christy Ashley, Mary Beth Arnold, Chris Barrett, Linda Barrett, Thorr Bjorn, Wendy Bucci, Scott Burdick, Patricia Casey, Patricia Correia, Amy Dunkle, Allison Farrelly, Melissa Frost, Clea Harrelson, Lori Jacolucci, Laura Kenerson, Shaun Kirby, Aria Mia Loberti, Cynthia Mace, Hugh Markey, Dr. Karen Markin, Bruce Mason, Elise Mason, Todd McLeish, Paula Murray, Ryan Pincince, Abigail Rider, Kathleen Shannon, Mary Springer, Joshua Ray Tanzer, Dr. Carol Thornber, Vincent Turco, Jeffrey Ulricksen, Tamara Vittone and Michelle Wood. Photos by: Scott Bernstein, Joe Giblin, Beau Jones, Nora Lewis, and Patrick Luce.

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