Swenson, David A.

December 2009

It is commonly assumed that local sales multiply-through the local economy in a predictable and robust manner. Another word for this is dollar-turnover. That is, a multiplier implies how many times a given dollar spent in an economy literally turns-over or otherwise results in other local transactions. That over-simple assumption, however, misses the crux of retail multipliers and their overall value to local economies and to the state overall. This exercise is intended to assist planners and community boosters to understand the statewide multiplier values of different aspects of retail sales.

JEL Classification: A10

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