Economists use two basic measures in calculating economic impact: direct and indirect impact. Direct impact includes employment and payroll numbers, institutional expenditures for goods and services, construction expenditures, and projected spending by students, visitors, and retirees. To estimate indirect impact, economists multiply jobs and expenditures by a series of factors provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Multipliers for the twenty-county Atlanta metropolitan area and for appropriate industries (health care and education) were purchased from the BEA and then used to estimate Emory’s indirect impact on Atlanta’s economy.

This study was conducted by staff in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. The Emory data consist of fiscal year 1999 (September 1, 1998–August 31, 1999) expenditures and employment by all academic units of Emory University and the following components of Emory Healthcare: Emory University Hospital, The Emory Clinic, Crawford Long Hospital, Emory Children’s Center, and Wesley Woods Center. Direct expenditures for fiscal year 1999 were taken from records of actual payments made to vendors with zip codes located in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area. Comparison data were taken from a 1995 study conducted by Hammer, Siler, George Associates, which calculated Emory’s economic impact during its 1994 fiscal year.

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