This paper is a summary of the origins of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and reforms to TIF based on economic and intergovernmental fiscal shifts during the 1980s.  Iowa's modern TIF law is, as a result, very widely and indescriminantly used, leading to a call for reform of the core legislative...

At ISU we produce estimates of the total value of certain industries to the state’s economy using modeling systems that contain up-to-date secondary data on the major components of industrial production in the state.  We, for example, periodically describe the importance of agriculture...

This research study investigated the economic impacts of local foods production for the southeast Iowa region of Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, Van Buren, and Wapello Counties. Local educators and community leaders in the region selected a set of eight fruits and vegetables and a set of meat...

Rural producers are interested in developing income enhancing opportunities. Increased, in-season production of fresh fruits and vegetables fro local or regional consumption is one farm-level opportunity. This study looks at a 12 county region and evaluates the production-driven income gains...

This report considers housing needs throughout the State of Iowa as commissioned by the Iowa Finance Authority for purposes of its annual needs report to the Iowa General Assembly. The study identified ten indicators that contribute to housing need or surplus as related to population growth,...

It is commonly assumed that local sales multiply-through the local economy in a predictable and robust manner. Another word for this is dollar-turnover. That is, a multiplier implies how many times a given dollar spent in an economy literally turns-over or otherwise results in other local...

 This research considers the potential statewide and regional economic values that might accumulateto farmers and regional economies if there was an increase in the production of 28 types of fresh fruits and vegetables for local consumption. The states studied were Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,...

This paper looks at the historical relationship of unleaded gasoline prices relative to ethanol prices. It uses several basic measures to determine the usefulness of wholesale unleaded gasoline price as a determinant of ethanol price, and it looks at the stability of that simple model over this...

A comparative assessment of major trends and shifts in manufacturing employment in the U.S. and in Iowa in recent years. In addition, comparisons are made of Iowa's manufacturing job performance in relation to the average for all states that border Iowa.