Public decisions carry wide-reaching implications.
Questions we answer
- What is the fiscal trajectory of our jurisdiction, and what economic conditions or policy changes could alter it?
- Is this tax credit, subsidy, or incentive program generating sufficient return to justify its cost?
- Is this public program working, and how do we demonstrate its value to funders, legislators, or the public?
- How will the private sector respond to this housing or development policy, and will it meet its intended goals?
How we work
The practice draws on fiscal impact modeling, economic impact analysis, scenario-based financial modeling, regression analysis, and legislative and comparative policy research, calibrated to the question at hand. Distributional and equity analysis is part of the analytical core, not a supplementary section. Clients include state agencies, municipal governments, legislative bodies, planning commissions, foundations, school districts, housing authorities, and civic advocacy groups. Many engagements are long-standing, reflecting the nature of policy questions that rarely have simple answers and benefit from an analytical partner who knows the substance of the field.
What we deliver
- Fiscal impact analysis and financial planning
- How policy and growth choices move a jurisdiction's revenues and costs over time.
- Economic and fiscal impact studies
- The economic activity and public revenue a program or investment generates.
- Policy and program evaluation
- Whether a program is working, and what the evidence says should change.
- Scenario modeling and revenue forecasting
- Forward-looking models linking economic drivers to fiscal outcomes under alternative cases.
- Tax and incentive program assessment
- Whether a tax credit, subsidy, or incentive earns its cost.
- Benefit-cost and return-on-investment analysis
- A defensible accounting of what a policy returns against what it costs.
- Housing policy and market studies
- The economics and fiscal impact behind housing and land-use policy.
- Equitable growth and distributional analysis
- Who gains and who bears costs, built into the analysis rather than added at the end.
- Legislative and comparative policy research
- How peer jurisdictions have addressed a problem, and what applies here.
- Interactive tools and decision-support models
- Models and tools that let officials test options for themselves.
Featured projects
Fiscal Impact of Housing Development in New Hampshire
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Assessment of NJEDA’s Net Operating Loss Program
Read the report



