Public Policy
The Gardner Institute provides data-driven, context-specific insights about public policy in Utah. We prepare in-depth quantitative and qualitative studies on key Utah issues in partnership with private-sector stakeholders and state and local government. Our research provides vital information decision-makers and the public use to help Utah prosper.
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 [...]
Presentation: 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.
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.
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 OklaÂhoma 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 [...]
Utah’s Industry Cluster Supply Chains: A Regional Analysis
This report presents Utah’s economic regions and analyzes the supply chains of significant industry clusters located within those regions. Regional clusters purchase significant shares of inputs from within the region or from other regions in Utah.
Utah’s Economic Regions
The Utah economy organizes systematically into six economic regions. These regions capture local commuting patterns and score well for other measures of economic connection.
Utah Homeless Services: Governance Structure and Funding Model
The Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute prepared this assessment of Utah’s homeless services governance structure and funding at the request of the Utah Legislature and the philanthropic community. This assessment involved a collaborative review process of the governance structure and funding model in Utah. Utah has made strides towards our goal of making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. This is a tribute to the service providers and leaders of this state. The next step is to create a simpler, more transparent, and coordinated system for homeless services that will better serve those in need. We offer these six recommendations to [...]
