Sufficient research evidence is available to conclude that efforts to expand higher education or medical service industries should not be ignored by regional economists or local economic developers.
On average, an economic development policy that would expand the higher education service sector by 1 percent of total local employment would increase average local earnings by 0.2 percent, compared to 0.1 percent for a similar-sized expansion in the medical services sector.
Although such earnings effects may sound small, for the typical metropolitan area these amount to many millions of dollars. If the costs of inducing an expansion in higher education or medical services is sufficiently low, an economic development strategy that targets these industrial sectors may offer net benefits. However, if economic developers are able to leveraging a variety of complimentary factors, then there is significant potential to greatly exceed these modest impact projections.
Life Science Economic Development Reports