Industry Studies
The Gardner Institute conducts economic impact studies to understand the effect of a firm, group of firms, or an entire industry on Utah’s economy. We estimate direct economic effects using employment, wages, and other data. We model indirect, induced, and dynamic economic impacts using statistical analysis and simulation software. The Gardner Institute also performs fiscal impact analyses to help policymakers and others understand the effect of a firm or an entire industry on state and local government finances.
2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Utah: Demographic, Social, and Environmental Factors
Utah’s demographic, social, and environmental factors favorably position the state to host another successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
An Economic Summary of Salt Lake County’s Cultural Industry, 2023
In 2021, Salt Lake County’s cultural industry, including the design, education, entertainment, fashion, film, humanities, and traditional arts sectors, generated $6.2 billion in output (direct spending).
Utah’s Rental Market
Utah’s renters, like much of the renters across the country faced dramatic increases in housing costs throughout the pandemic. For the renters across the four Wasatch Front counties, average asking rents increased more in the two-year period between 2020 and 2022 then they increased between 2010 and 2020. At an annualized rate, between 2010 and 2020, asking rents increased 2.6% in Salt Lake County, between 2020 and 2022 the rate of change was 11.0%
Policy Brief: Utah’s Energy Industry
Heading into 2022, energy experts debated the speed and timing of a return to “normal” energy demand following a tumultuous 2020–2021 as the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Utah’s Life Sciences Workforce and Industry Growth: 2012 to 2021
industry was a source of economic stability from 2012 to 2021. Job growth remained strong compared with other industries and states. Increasingly, life sciences companies provide a large share of Utah’s employee workforce relative to other states with significant life sciences sectors.
Policy Brief: Housing Prices and Affordability
In 2022, higher home prices and a doubling of the mortgage rate combined to erode housing affordability. Thus, homeownership has become more difficult for many of Utah’s 333,000 renter households.
An Economic Summary of Utah’s Cultural Industry, 2023
In 2021, Utah’s cultural industry, which comprises the design, education, entertainment, fashion, film, humanities, and traditional arts sectors, generated $10.1 billion in output (direct spending) and supported an estimated 65,300 Utah jobs.
Utah’s Invisible Workforce: The Economic Contributions and Health Impacts of Family Caregiving
As the need for family caregiving is expected to grow over the next decade, there are concerns about the mental and physical toll it places on Utah’s caregivers.
A Business Vision for Utah’s Energy Future (Data Compendium)
This Data Compendium provides supplementary data, definitions, and focus group summaries for the companion report, “A Business Vision for Utah’s Energy Future.” This companion report can be accessed on the Salt Lake Chamber or Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute website.
A Business Vision for Utah’s Energy Future
Utah's business community envisions an energy future that places Utah at the center of the nation's energy transition by harmonizing environmental and economic progress to ensure a balanced low carbon energy future that remains affordable, reliable, and sustainable.