Nicholas Moellman, an assistant professor of economics, and students are utilizing a survey to find out the institution’s economic impact on the community.
Distribution of the survey has already started. The survey results will complement a study that will be released, along with the university’s strategic plan, in the fall.
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – A Winthrop University economist and students are utilizing a survey to find out the institution’s economic impact on the community. Nicholas Moellman, an assistant professor of economics, said finding out the size of Winthrop’s impact is important to understand its value.
“As we know, Winthrop is a driving economic force in Rock Hill, York County, and the greater Charlotte region,” said Moellman.
It is the second largest four-year institution in the Charlotte metro, bringing thousands of students to campus and employing hundreds of faculty and staff. Moreover, the events held by Winthrop, he said, bring other visitors in from around the country to see the campus, its teams, and students who live here.
Distribution of the survey has already started. The survey results will complement a study that will be released, along with the university’s strategic plan, in the fall.
Winthrop President Edward Serna ’02, who is in his first year as president, said the survey results will be used to show how integral Winthrop is to the surrounding area. “The findings will show concrete data about what a large impact this institution has in our area,” Serna said. “From our faculty, staff and students who live and work here to our contributions to the business community, schools and local charities, Winthrop is proud to be a good citizen. This survey adds evidence of what we offer on a daily basis.”
To gather survey information, Moellman and his co-analyst, senior economics student Jose Cervantes-Jimenez, are using three primary sources of data. The first is Winthrop budgetary information to see how much the university directly spends on operations. Next, the group is surveying visitors to campus and asking about their spending habits. The team also is surveying Winthrop students to see what they spend as well. “Using this data, and administrative attendance numbers, will allow us to produce estimates of total expenditure in the area,” Moellman said.
Finally, the group is surveying businesses. “One of the main contributions of Winthrop is our promotion of human capital development in the area. We train highly successful and skilled workers who make our community better,” Moellman said. “This promotes economic growth and development in so many ways, but unfortunately it is very hard to measure.”
The team is asking businesses about how Winthrop has affected their workforce development, and to provide some qualitative information in this area. Also helping collect data are students Erica Gugliotti, David Urich and Ayden Lowman.
Most visitors to campus or employees are spending money not only at Winthrop, but in the local community as well. They are buying and renting housing, shopping at stores, eating at restaurants, and driving economic activity in the region through a host of different avenues. Moreover, once these dollars get spent, they aren’t done, Moellman said.
When a Winthrop student buys lunch at a business in The Perch, that money gets used to buy equipment, inventory, etc. And again, those dollars get re-spent, over and over. That restaurant will also need to pay workers, who will have to support their families, which in turn leads to dollars cycling through the economy. “So, with every dollar that gets spent, there is a multiplier effect, amplifying the economic effect in our community,” Moellman said.
However, it is important to note, he said, that not all of these dollars consist of “new” economic activity. Some folks would still spend money in the area even if Winthrop weren’t here. If a family is deciding between going to a Winthrop soccer match and spending the day at the Anne Springs Close Greenway, just because they went to the soccer match doesn’t mean Winthrop created those dollars.
“So, our goal is to identify this new expenditure,” Moellman said. “We will be doing this primarily though location. If someone is coming to Winthrop from outside the area, we can reasonably assume those are not dollars that would have been spent here otherwise. Moreover, if we have good indication that someone would have stayed home if the event weren’t happening here, we can count that as well.”
For more information, contact Moellman at moellmann@winthrop.edu.
