Kelley School publishes 2014 economic report

The Kelley School of Business has released its Indiana Business Review for 2014, with the economic forecast for the Bloomington area and the state.

The Indiana Business Review is a publication that stems from a smaller annual economic forecast that is conducted at the end of every year. This year’s report is one of the biggest yet.

“The report has been published since 1926,” executive editor Carol Rogers said.“And we have the largest university libraries and even Fortune 500 companies receive the review.”

The 46-page report is especially long this year because IU partnered with other schools such as Purdue and the University of Southern Indiana to get as much content as possible, Rogers said.  

“Folks had a lot to say,” she said.

The review focused on two major components: population and economy.  

Researchers discovered that half of the jobs lost during the 2008-2009 recession have been regained, and the housing market has continued its improvement, according to the IBR website.

Another large part of the 2014 review was dedicated to energy because of the amount of coal available to Indiana residents and the amount of energy used by the state on a daily basis.  

The review also involves IU students as well as faculty in the process of gathering and putting together all the data.  

“Graduate students fact check and proofread,” Rogers said.

“And a number of grad students co-author articles.”

Doctoral students also give input, helping with the writing and the research of each article, she said.

The review as a whole was positive for the state of Indiana, according to the press release, which said that some parts of the state are going to fare better than others.

The full publication is available for free online at ibrc.indiana.edu.

­—Laura Schulte