Kansas Business Review Abstracts |
Vol. 23, No.1, Fall 1999 |
by Robert Glass, Norman Clifford,
Brian Harris, Cheri Woolsey, and Charles
Krider, Institute for Public Policy and Business Research, University of
Kansas
This report presents the results of a study done by the Institute for Public
Policy and Business Research for the Kansas Arts Commission (KAC). The authors
employed four major research tools. First, they used historical budget data
for Kansas, the surrounding states, and the nation in order to place the activities
of the KAC in perspective. Second, they performed a traditional economic impact
study in order to measure the effect of the Arts Commission on current state
output. Third, they conducted five case studies of local arts organizations
in order to understand the range of types of assistance provided to local arts
organizations as well as to uncover channels of economic influence in KAC activities.
Fourth, they surveyed Kansas households in order elicit Kansans' willingness
to pay for additional arts activities in their local areas and to develop information
that would be useful to the KAC in marketing its activities. The results of
their investigations led to the following conclusions:
1. Annually, the KAC-influenced economy is about $20 million, which generates about $2.1 million in state and local taxes.
2. Kansas' current economic output is $1 million greater because of the existence of the KAC.
3. Five case studies indicate that the KAC has effectively nurtured the development of successful small arts organizations.
4. The existence of a geographically diverse arts community makes the state as a whole a more attractive place in which to locate a business.
5. State government support for the arts in Kansas ranks low nationally and regionally when compared to other states' support of the arts. Given the broad support for the arts in Kansas, it makes sense for state support for the arts to be moved toward the national average.
6. Kansans overwhelmingly approve of state government support for the arts.
7. Kansans expressed support for additional local arts organizations in their
area.
by Genna Hurd and Fernando T. Conde,
Kansas Center for Community Economic Development, University of Kansas
In 1989 the Kansas Center for Community Economic Development conducted a study
of thirty medium-sized communities in Kansas to determine how they organized,
financed, and planned economic development activities. Few of the communities
surveyed at that time were engaged in strategic planning for economic development;
however, in 1990 the Kansas Legislature passed the Community Strategic Planning
Assistance Act to help counties develop strategic plans and finance action elements
of those plans. Since the passage of the Act, strategic planning in Kansas has
increased and Kansas communities have begun to assume greater responsibility
for economic development. Consequently, the thirty communities surveyed in 1989
were re-surveyed in 1993 and in 1998 in order to update information on the status
of economic development in Kansas and to determine how these communities have
adapted to the changing business environment in the state.
by Norman Clifford, Institute for
Public Policy and Business Research, Kansas University
The economic growth of the first half of 1999 is expected to carry the national
economy to another year of strong growth in the year 2000. In Kansas, however,
the rates of increase appear to be slowing significantly.
by John N. Yochelson, President,
Council on Competitiveness
In a paper presented to attendees at the First Annual Governor's Economic Innovation
Summit, held in October at the University of Kansas, John Yochelson said that
the U.S. competitive challenge has changed since global competition hit the
U.S. economy in full force in the mid 1980s. Today's competitive agenda is broader
and more complex that it once was. It is no longer focused primarily on manufacturing,
nor can it be met through a clear-cut division of labor between industry and
government. Three new competitive assets have moved front and center, each reflecting
the power of networking in a knowledge-based economy. These new sources are
Connectivity, Clusters, and Collaboration. Kansas is clearly on the right track
by making innovation the centerpiece of its economic development effort.