Latest Research
Utah Informed: Visual Intellection for 2021
"You may not be interested in the virus, but the virus is interested in you.” This modified Leo Tolstoy quote summarizes much of 2020 and the start of 2021. COVID-19 came seemingly from out of nowhere and impacted every facet of our lives, livelihoods, and lifestyles.
The COVID-19 Economic Risk Index
Notwithstanding having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country under COVID-19, unemployment in Utah since the beginning of the pandemic has been stark. In only six weeks, Utah’s unemployment rate jumped from a historic low of 2.5% to a historic high of 10.4%,1 with Utah residents filing over 130,000 unemployment insurance claims from mid-March through April.
COVID-19’s Impacts on Utah’s Oil & Gas Industry
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the oil and gas sector was caught unprepared for the global shock of diminished energy demand by shelter-in-place and stay-at-home policies. At the same time, two OPEC+ members battling for market share oversupplied global energy markets, creating an unanticipated energy supply shock and sending crude oil prices into a tailspin. These combined shocks threatened the viability of oil and gas companies lacking the robust balance sheets needed to remain solvent until normal market conditions return.
The Central Utah Project: Economic Impacts and Counterfactual
The Central Utah Project (CUP) is an extensive network of diversions, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, and pipelines delivering a portion of Utah’s allocation of Colorado River water to residents of Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch, Duchesne, and Uintah counties. Federal appropriations began in 1958, under the direction of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the project has been managed by the Central Utah Water Conservancy District. Through 2017, a total of $2.5 billion had been spent or appropriated to build and administer the system. The CUP currently delivers 151,160 acre-feet of municipal and industrial water annually to Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch, and[...]
January 2021 Utah Consumer Confidence
Our survey shows little change in consumer sentiment among Utahns between December 2020 and January 2021. U.S. data show analogous results, according to a similar survey by the University of Michigan.
Early Childhood Mental Health in Utah
Early childhood mental health services address an important need in Utah. More data and collaboration in this area can help maximize health, opportunity, and public investment outcomes.
Housing Affordability: What Are Best Practices and Why Are They Important?
A survey of leading housing practitioners identified five “best practices” for meeting the housing affordability challenge in Utah. This study examines why these practices are “best practices,” the implementation of the practice, and the outcomes produced.
Fact Sheet: Estimates for Utah’s Middle Class in 2019
The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute prepares regular estimates of the population size of Utah’s middle class. The Gardner Institute bases its estimates on household income, compared with state medians and federal poverty guidelines by household size. This fact sheet provides Utah decision-makers with information about income classes in the state in 2019. After the U.S. Census Bureau releases 2020 data in November 2021, the Gardner Institute will issue a full report.
December 2020 Utah Consumer Confidence
Our survey shows little change in consumer sentiment among Utahns between November and December 2020. Sentiment rose slightly for the U.S. as a whole, according to a similar survey by the University of Michigan.
Utah’s Economic Exceptionalism
On my drive home from work on March 11, 2020, I could tell something was awry. The Utah Jazz game against the Oklahoma City Thunder was set to tip off, but the radio play-by-play announcer seemed confused. Players and officials mingled on the court, but nobody walked to the center circle for tipoff. There was a long pause, and then an even longer one. Then the news broke: Utah Jazz all-star Rudy Gobert tested positive for Covid-19. The officials suspended the game and within hours the NBA suspended the season. That same day, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a[...]