Application of BEA Economic Areas in the Development of the Great Basin Fiscal Impact Model

With changing revenue and service responsibilities between federal, state and local governments, the need for local decisionmakers to accurately assess fiscal impacts of new economic devel - opments or federal government programs has become increasingly important. In this paper we explore the use of cross-sectional data and procedures to derive a fiscal impact model that crosses state boundaries. This study uses BEA Economic Areas to select counties to be included in the Great Basin fiscal impact model. Fixed effects are specified to incorporate institutional differences between states and metropolitan counties. Results of this analysis indicate that model derivation is not statistically impacted by use of place of work employment rather than place of residence employment. An example analysis for a rural Nevada county shows how the Great Basin fiscal model can be applied to measure changes in county fiscal balances.