Your Economy

Research about the U.S. economy that you can see

       

The Institute for Exceptional Growth Companies is the national leader in establishment and firm growth research. We focus on the drivers of growth among middle-market companies, and are investigating how sustained growth relates to capital markets and supplier networks. We use establishment-level datasets to develop exclusive metrics to measure and predict company expansions. We continue to refine software interfaces that allow third-party users to access our growth metrics, and apply them to their specific needs.

See it, use it

With more than 52 million actual establishments to begin to think about for study, listening to the data is the first step. The list of ideas to explore is almost endless. But it doesn't stop there. Through the YE (YourEconomy.org) display engine, IEGC makes the data available and useful to a wide range of audiences, (look around YE now!) including policymakers, economists, industry analysts, economic development experts, and the media. And, IEGC now makes this extensive data set directly available to researchers to use with their analysis tools!

Current research

There are over a dozen different research initiatives in the U.S., Canada, and Europe happening right now. Some highlights:

• Focusing on the drivers of growth among middle-market companies
• Investigating how sustained growth relates to capital markets and supplier networks
• Building a historical database to identify sustained growth during the IPO cycle
• Refining software interfaces that allow third-party users to perform their own queries

Research Perspective

The Institute is making available its extensive datasets to support these research projects at no cost to the researcher or their institutions. Our time-series datasets allow researchers to annually track the location, employment, organizational structure, and other important characteristics of almost every business operating in the United States over the past twenty years (1990-2011). These longitudinal files are comprised of the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) covering more than 52 million establishments, and selected information from other data sources including Dun & Bradstreet (current year data), public market sources, congressional districts, and the PitchBook database on private-equity portfolio companies.

The institute, directed by Mark Lange, and the research initiative to examine the performance of exceptional growth companies through economic cycles and how they contribute to job creation and economic prosperity will be led by Doug Tatum, Gregg Cole, and Gary Kunkle PhD.

To find out more, or for qualified academic scholars who would like to propose research projects, contact TJ Becker at tjbecker@lowe.org