Methodology

We use quantitative and qualitative methods.

 

We rely largely on primary data collected from companies and their executives, in particular production data (costs, prices, output rates, labour, etc., all anonymised). They are the main source of our work and give access to a great level of granularity and nuance. 

 

We gather them through online surveys and of course semi-structured interviews (231 conducted so far). We conduct most of our interviews by phone, which allows greater flexibility and adapts to the sometimes shifting or fragmented schedules of company executives.

 

They are then inputted into our models, all proprietary, for financial analysis, impact measurement or market sizing.

 

We complement them with figures published by various statistical bodies (INSEE, Eurostat, DARES, DGE...) and their databases (FLORES, ESANE...), as well as by central banks, professional bodies, ministries, specialised agencies, sector observatories, and chambers of commerce and industry.

  

We also run online surveys directed at companies or local populations (associations, residents), field visits and online research.

 

Lastly, we rely on the approach to local economic development through technical change (innovation economics, evolutionary economics, economic geography). This is the vision promoted by the LSE’s Local Economic Development master’s, among the very best in the world, with widely awarded academics such as Storper, Iammarino, Rodríguez-Pose and Crescenzi.

 

For instance, the ‘related variety’ (Boschma) approach can usefully feed a local economic development strategy, as can the theory of techno-economic cycles (Perez).

 

 

Economic outcomes assessment methods

 

They stem from the following triptych:

Jobs | Income | Value added

 

 

Direct, concrete, easily identifiable indicators, which together encompass:

 

• Short-term – jobs are the first consequence of a new economic activity: additional labour is required to produce

• Medium-term – a new economic activity also generates new income, for companies (sales revenue), households (wages) and public bodies (tax revenue)

• Long-term – value added is the long-term indicator; it is linked to technical change and to innovation, hence to new capacities or skills able to endure in a given place

  

Our proprietary quantitative model quantifies the desired indicators (e.g. jobs, sales revenue, wages, local and/or national tax revenue, value added), at the chosen geographical scale.

 

It also distinguishes between the different types of economic impact:

• Direct, indirect and induced

• Lasting effects and temporary ones

• Activity reductions where relevant, so as to establish the net balance of activity creation

 

Qualitative methods allow us to assess the durability of economic benefits and to answer, among others, the following questions:

• Will the activity created be durable?

• Can it bring about others and generate virtuous circles?

• What other benefits can we expect in the long run?

 

Also based on interviews and surveys, qualitative analysis captures effects on innovation or on the vitality of ecosystems, both drivers that make economic gains last (cf. ‘Local economic development’). Our sources are companies and any other relevant player (professional bodies, specialised agencies, local authorities, etc.).