Blog Posts
Insight: Outdoor Retailers
By: Juliette Tennert, MS It’s been close to two years since I’ve eaten sushi. My daughter was born last October so I abstained while I was pregnant and it’s been hard to find time for a leisurely evening out ever since. Finally, early last month, the stars aligned when my husband and I were able to schedule a night out at Takashi, our favorite restaurant. As any SLC sushi aficionado knows, Takashi doesn’t take reservations for small parties. You show up, get on the list and wait. As the same aficionado will also know, however, the wait is always worth[...]
Insight: Who is Answering Surveys Today?
By: Dianne Meppen, BS When talking to groups and even in meetings with clients, I often ask the question “If you were contacted for a survey, would you participate?” Generally a few hands go up acknowledging a willingness to take a survey, but – the vast majority of hands in the room stay down. My feelings aside, I am often reminded and kept keenly aware that their response to my question is the norm and not an exception. Simply put, not many people want to take a survey these days. […]
Insight: New Evidence Demonstrates Utah Continues to Change
By: Dr. Pamela Perlich, PhD By: Effie Van Noy Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2014 American Community Survey 1-year estimates. [i] These data show us that while Utah maintains its “signature demographics”, it is also being transformed by long run national demographic and economic trends. Evidence of the effects of the Great Recession and subsequent slow but steady recovery are also appearing in these data. […]
Insight: Ethics in Utah
Pictured above (left to right): Dr. Abe Bakhsheshy, director and professor of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at the David Eccles School of Business; Terry Feveryear, executive director, Housing Authority of Salt Lake City; Jacob Brace, executive director, Neighborhood Home; Jeff Selander, CFO, Health Catalyst; Taylor Randall, Dean, David Eccles School of Business By: Jennifer Robinson, PhD Today I attended the Utah Ethical Leadership Awards Banquet, hosted by the Community Foundation of Utah, Daniels Fund and the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at the Eccles School of Business. The Utah Ethical Leadership Awards are designed to recognize Utah businesses, nonprofits, and government entities that embody the spirit of ethical leadership[...]
Insight: Unemployment Figures Revealed
By: Juliette Tennert, MS As we celebrate Labor Day, I thought I would shed a little light on one of the most-cited labor statistics – the unemployment rate. If you enjoy teasing economists, you’re probably familiar with the joke that if you ask three economists a question, you will get five different answers. We can’t help ourselves – we work in a world of copious data that is full of nuance! […]
Insight: 2 Utahs and the need for investment
By: Natalie Gochnour Originally published in The Deseret News While driving in downtown Salt Lake City this week I witnessed a vivid contrast. It was lunchtime and the city I love was teeming with life. A TRAX light-rail train rambled through traffic, a guy in a suit pedaled along on a lime green bike-share bicycle, construction workers labored in a new high rise, and lunch-hour pedestrian traffic filled the streets. As if to put punctuation on our growing and thriving urban center, I saw 20 or so rather large guys dressed in power-blue-and-maize outfits walking up State Street together. They[...]
Insight: Salt Lake City is earning a new title: 'Wall Street of the West'
By: Natalie Gochnour Originally published in the Deseret News Salt Lake City is now the second-largest Goldman Sachs office in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. What was in 2000 a small regional operation has blossomed into a workforce of several thousand people and growing. With the workforce of Fidelity Investments, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Wells Fargo and other financial service companies, Utah’s capital city now rightly claims the title “Wall Street of the West.” The Utah economy is larger, stronger and more diversified, thanks to the growth in this important industry. […]
Insight: Reframe Truths as Assumptions
By: Ken Embley, MS Every day we make sense out of reality by connecting facts together and interpreting those facts to create stories. Suppose I describe what happened on a particular morning as follows: “At 5:00 a.m. I got up. Then I exercised, ate a bowl of cereal, and cleaned-up. I left for work at 6:20 a.m. and arrived at 7:00 a.m.” This straightforward recital of facts involves little interpretation and thus little meaning. Compare it with the following account of the same morning: “At 5:00 a.m. I arose still tired from too little sleep because I had stupidly stayed[...]
Insight: Pac-12 Football is a Win for the U and Utah
By: Dianne Meppen, BS As the University prepares for the big game with Michigan, I’m reminded of a research project I was involved in shortly after coming to work at the U – the Pac-12 Economic Impact Study. It was the University’s second year in the conference and the purpose of the research was to gauge the economic benefits of the decision to join the Pac-12 Conference. […]
Insight: Utah’s Apartment Construction Boom
By: James Wood The share of renter households is increasing in Utah creating the “tightest” rental market I’ve seen in my forty years of experience with the local housing market Ten years ago twenty six percent of all households in Utah were renters. By 2014 that share had grown to twenty-nine percent. This three percent swing in favor of rental housing produced an additional 27,000 renter households statewide in 2014, pushing the total of renter households to 261,000. […]