Economic Research                                                                                         FUTURE

THE PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

The Summer Research Institute's 2005 Economics Project examined  a portion of the vast store of data available on the internet that describes the local, state, and national economy.  Some of that information was selected to provide the statistical basis for an analysis of important features of the changing local economic base, and to examine the past, present, and future position of the St. Joseph economy in comparison to the state and national economy.  This project has had several objectives:

• To begin the construction of a data base that will provide a resource to interested parties in the community who might be seeking further understanding of the local and regional economy.

• To begin collection at a single site within the Economics Department of information that might be of interest to economics students looking for research questions to pursue in the area of local and regional economic development.

• To provide a resource that supports the emerging efforts of the Western Institute to develop a Center for Business and Economic Research.

These objectives have been partially achieved through the SRI project this summer, and will continue to be pursued through ongoing efforts in the future.