Project Profile

State Economic Development Program Expenditures Database

Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER)
Start Date: Jan 2007 — End Date: Ongoing

CREC gathers state economic development budget data and aggregates it into a database that allows on-going comparisons.  The expenditure data can be used by policy makers for ideas on new policy recommendations, state officers and agencies for comparing or and evaluating existing budget allocations, and economic development professionals for highlighting the spending in a particular state.  Expenditure data were collected by aggregating budget information from state economic development agencies to find total resources available for economic development on a state level.  Most data was collected from the primary economic development agency while some state data derived from several different agencies depending on the economic development structure in the respective state.  State budgets were examined for 15 functional activity areas and four different funding sources (including state general revenues, special funds, state other funds and federal funds).  The 15 functional activity areas include business finance, business assistance, international trade and investment, domestic recruitment, workforce preparation and development, technology transfer, minority business development, entrepreneurial development, community assistance, tourism/film, special industrial assistance, program support, administration, and others. The new State Economic Development Program Expenditures Database website (http://www.stateexpenditures.org/) was launched in 2012.

Research & Planning