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Insights

Plain answers about a technical thing.

Economic impact and feasibility analysis is easy to hide behind jargon. These are the guides we wish existed: what a study measures, what it costs, how to tell if one is honest, and how to put it to work. Open, and no email wall.

Start here

What a red team is, and why your project needs one

The name is not a metaphor. What red teaming means, and why every project should face it internally before a lender or funder does.

Evaluating a study

How to tell if an economic impact study is honest

Seven questions that separate a study you can act on from a number built to justify a decision already made.

The basics

What an economic impact study actually measures

Direct, indirect, and induced effects in plain language, and where the numbers quietly inflate.

The basics

What is a feasibility study, and when do you need one?

What it examines, what it answers, and the moments to commission one before you commit.

Impact vs viability

Why a big impact number is not a green light

Impact tells you what a project does to the economy. Viability tells you whether to do it. You need both.

The basics

What an economic multiplier really means

The most cited and most misunderstood number in the field, and why a large one is not always good news.

Getting it right

Economic impact vs. contribution analysis

Two terms that sound alike, are constantly confused, and answer different questions.

Cost

How much does an economic impact study cost?

The honest range, why it is so wide, and how to tell if a quote reflects the work or the overhead.

For those commissioning

How to commission an economic impact study

What to ask for, what it should cost, and how to get a result a board or a funder can use.

For rural borrowers

Feasibility studies for USDA business loans

What lenders require, and what makes a study hold up under a credit committee's review.

For public budgets

Fiscal impact analysis: what it is and who needs it

What a project means for a government's budget: the revenue it brings and the costs it creates.

For grants & funding

Using economic impact analysis to strengthen a grant application

What funders look for, and how to use the number honestly without overstating what it proves.

Have a project in mind?

Tell us what you are weighing and where. We will lay out what it takes to answer it, and what it costs.

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