George A. Erickcek
 |
Senior Regional Analyst Erickcek’s research focuses on issues of regional economic development including tax policy, economic and fiscal impacts, program evaluations, and economic development strategies and analyses. He also prepares economic forecasts for the west Michigan region. Brief Bio Full CV |
Expertise
Research Focus: West Michigan’s Economy
Erickcek monitors the economic conditions in west Michigan and prepares numerous economic impact reports for the region’s businesses, non-profit organizations, and governmental units. In addition, he gives many presentations to the region’s economic development stakeholders. Finally, he prepares and presents short-term employment forecasts for all six of the region’s metropolitan areas (available in Business Outlook for West Michigan).
His economic impact studies for the west Michigan region include:
- Estimating the impact and importance of industrial design for west Michigan manufacturers to remain competitive
- The construction of economic impact models for the cities of Battle Creek and Kalamazoo
- Assessing the region’s labor force and talent base for the changing economy
Research Focus: Regional Economic Development
Erickcek evaluates the economic impact of a wide variety of new local, state, and federal programs; business expansions and closures; and non-profit foundation initiatives.
His economic studies in this focus area include:
-
Development of a county based, multi-state, rural benchmarking database that provides economic and social statistics and indicators for economic development decision makers in the states more rural areas.
An Economic Development Benchmarking System for Rural Michigan - Development of economic dashboards for metropolitan areas. He has helped to prepare statistically based dashboards for the greater Cleveland area, the greater Detroit area, and for the city of Flint.
-
Preparation of a project evaluation tool for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for its project decision makers to use in determining the allocation of the limited public grant funds.
What Should EDA Fund? Developing a Model for Pre-Assessment of Economic Development Investments -
Evalulation of EDA’s local economic development programs including the work programs for the Economic Development Districts and their Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies.
Comprehensive Study of Regionalism: Tools for Comparison and Evaluation