WASHINGTON, DC (February 8, 2021) – American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholars recently published three studies as part of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership’s (CICP) Indiana GPS Project.

In Time to choose: Indiana’s decade to decide its demographic future, Lyman Stone finds that Indiana is at a key inflection point for its future population growth. Modest changes could result in either steep decline or continued growth. However, Indiana’s demographic outlook is considerably more pessimistic than previous research has suggested. Without considerable policy changes, Stone finds that Indiana’s population will begin to decline in the next decade or two.

In Hopes and challenges for community and civic life: Perspectives from the nation and Indiana, Daniel A. Cox, Karlyn Bowman, and Jacqueline Clemence find that no community attribute is more frequently mentioned by the public as being important for a community than having good public schools is. They also find that being more closely tied to local institutions is associated with greater feelings of community attachment. Seventy-seven percent of Americans who regularly visit a local place say they feel connected to where they live and the people who live there.

In Delivering Opportunity: A diagnostic and strategy playbook to maximize Indiana’s Opportunity Zones, an EIG research team provides Indiana with suggestions on the many of the ways in which Opportunity Zones can help places achieve goals such as incubating entrepreneurship, diversifying the economic base, or building healthy and vibrant communities.
Ryan Streeter, AEI’s director of domestic policy studies, also contributed to the Indiana GPS Project, serving as a member of the project’s research advisory council. In this role, Streeter drew on expertise and insights gained through his work at AEI and in prior roles within Indiana to advise on the project’s broad research agenda.

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