The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA), established in 1992, serves the people of Connecticut by improving their understanding of the state's economy -- past, present, and future. The Center focuses on providing timely information and reliable analyses about Connecticut's economy. By mobilizing and directing the expertise available at the University of Connecticut, state agencies and entities, and the private sector, CCEA equips the public and decision makers with the foundation for systematic, thoughtful debate of public-policy issues. The Center takes a long-term, strategic view of economic forces, and is objective and transparent in its execution and delivery.

CCEA has four main areas of responsibility:

1. To compile data required to monitor and forecast economic developments in Connecticut
2. To maintain models of the State's economy, which the Center uses to conduct empirical analyses for State, municipal, and private groups, through its Policy and Analysis Group
3. To promote, through the research, publication and outreach of its Connecticut Center for Economic Education economic and financial literacy; and
4. To serve state agencies, municipal governments, non-profit and private organizations and Connecticut citizens through the data bank, research, publications, and outreach of the Connecticut State Data Center, the official U.S. Census liaison for Connecticut.

The Policy and Analysis Group develops an array of critical economic indicators that track the state’s economic performance, maintains several regional economic models with which it performs economic impact analyses, and provides a breadth of statistical expertise and policy assessments. CCEA regularly develops the following current economic indicators:

Coincident and Leading Indicators
The monthly Coincident and Leading Indicators for the state economy. The state publishes the COLI, and OPM has used it in presentations to credit rating agencies, presentations that have twice resulted in a higher rating for the state and a significant long-term saving in interest charges.

Quarterly forecasts of both state employment and gross state product (GSP)
CCEA developed its own Bayesian Vector Autoregression (BVAR) forecasting models for employment and GSP, and has done in-sample tests for historical validity. Begun in the third quarter of 1998, CCEA releases quarterly forecasts that are published regularly in The Connecticut Economy.

CT Consumer Price Index
CCEA has developed and maintains a quarterly Consumer Price Index for the State and four of its urban regions. CCEA has collected this data for seven years, and has extended it for the past two years to track CPI on a regional basis within the State.

CCEA has developed strong research capabilities in economic impact analysis and policy assessment.

CCEA maintains state and county-level economic models (REMI, IMPLAN, and RIMSII) for Economic Impact Analysis. The Center has provided assessments for a variety of public and private clients on the long-term economic impact (dynamically over periods as long as thirty years) of infrastructure investments, expansion of cultural amenities, and economic incentive packages.

CCEA has developed Dynamic Tax Analysis to assess the impacts of changes in the state income tax structure; analyzes the effects of Property Tax Revaluation and its impact on local economies.

CCEA has developed Benchmarking techniques for regional/metro and statewide manufacturing performance as a mechanism to help in policy formulation.

Buildout Analyses: CCEA has developed the capability of translating developable acreage into various development scenarios, including analysis of primary, secondary and tertiary employment, income, fiscal, and demographic impacts. This permits planning regions and local governments to evaluate the "carrying-capacity" of their area, and thus helps shape development planning. CCEA can link these development scenarios to utilization and congestion issues for the transportation infrastructure, analysis that facilitates holistic planning.

Examples of the studies that CCEA has completed are:

• New England Patriots Franchise Acquisition: An Economic Impact Study (1992)
• The Financial Services Strategic Initiative and Employment Act of 1993: An Economic Impact Analysis (1993)
• The Swiss Bank Agreement: Impact on Net Tax Receipts and the Connecticut Economy (1994)
• Griffin Line Major Investment Study: An Economic Impact Analysis (1995)
• Biomedical Research and Biotechnology in Connecticut (1996)
• Connecticut FIRE Sector Competitiveness (1996)
• Pfizer New London Mills Complex: An Economic Analysis (1998)
• First Annual MetroHartford Benchmaking Analysis (1999)
• Swiss Bank Expansion (1999)
• Structured Tax Credits for Impact Cities and Brownfield Investments (1999)
• Connecticut’s Manufacturing Competitiveness Index and Historical Impact (1999)
• Hartford’s Property Tax Structure and Its Economic Implications (1999)
• The CIGNA Development of the Bloomfield Campus (2000)

In November 1999, CCEA partnered with the University’s Division of Continuing and Extended Education to manage the Center for Economic Education. Prof. William Alpert, a member of the Department of Economics and Assistant Director of CCEA, serves as Director of CEE. Prof. Alpert has a broad background in economic education, having served as Director of the Lehigh University Center for Economic Education and he managed The Stock Market Game for Pennsylvania. CEE will strengthen the traditional programs of CEE, expand The Stock Market Game with new valued added activities (e.g., on-line "Ask the Professor" sessions; special seminars for teachers; linkage to summer internships), and introduce new initiatives (e.g., special programs on economic reporting for print and electronic media professionals).

Connecticut had been the only state in the nation without a state data center for the last five years. A collaborative effort between Prof. Wayne Villenez and Prof. Fred Carstense, with the vigorous support of VP Lori Aronson, persuaded the Office of Policy and Management to transfer responsibility for the CtSDC to the University of Connecticut. CCEA has overall responsibility for the operation of the CtSDC; Prof. Carstensen is the contracting individual with the U.S. Census, and Orlando Rodriguez is the Manager for the CtSDC.

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These activities provide access for a host of constituencies in the State to the expertise of University faculty, enhance the quality and range of economic and business education, and offer special learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students who assist in CCEA research. This in turn greatly increases the expertise and human capital focused on the state’s economy and made available to state and municipal agencies and enterprises for policy analysis.