This study explores the policy antecedents, theoretical foundations, and the many approaches to measuring green jobs in the U.S.  It also contains brief descriptions of national and state initiatives to quantify green jobs currently in the economy, as well as their potential growth.  The...

The American Community Survey (ACS), a continuous survey of U.S. households, has replaced the traditional decennial census long form survey as the primary mechanism for measuring detailed characteristics of the population at the substate level.  This paper introduces some of the practical...

Many people in Iowa do not understand the importance of manufacturing to the state's economy.  This short paper looks at the performance and status of Iowa manufacturing during a prolonged and slow period of recovery.

With its first release of 5-year data sets for small geographic areas in December of 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau reaches an important milestone in the development of its American Community Survey (ACS).  Adapting to changes introduced by the ACS framework will require some adjustment by...

 County population data by age, sex, race, disability, and poverty status, as required for civil rights audit reporting

This project illustrates and documents how secondary data sets produced and/or maintained by public agencies can be used to better inform community decision making for a variety of alternative economic and community development projects.  This report describes the design goals, analytical...

  Federal definitions of core-based metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (CBSAs) recognize the importance of large, central places in broader regional economies.  Although CBSAs are officially defined for statistical reporting purposes only, the construct is widely used in regional...

This report investigates degrees of water dependence across various sectors of Iowa’s economy and the possible direct and indirect consequences of drought events on Iowa’s industries. The report is organized into five sections. Part 1 describes patterns of water use by broad...

All of Iowa’s counties were considered to be in severe drought, and a third were suffering exceptional drought conditions by August 1st, 2012.  It is logical to ask, therefore, how Iowa’s overall economy will be affected by the current situation.  Economists caution against...