A Jump in the Economy

05/08/2014 3:20 PM

By Sarah Marshall, ’15

The Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center boosted the Peoria area through job creation, tax revenue and innovative education in its first year. Approaching its one year anniversary, Bradley economics faculty look back and note this positive impact in this study that was released last May. 

“For entities such as the jump center that focuses on research and innovation, the long term economic impacts that result from the research and new innovative practices will likely exceed the economic impacts resulting from expenditures associated with construction and employment of personnel within the center,” said economics professor Dr. Bob Weinstein.

 The study, which began during the fall of 2012, was conducted by Weinstein and fellow economics faculty Dr. Robert Scott and Dr. Joshua Lewer. 

“We really worked well together,” Lewer said. “Our unique intra-economic disciplines were quite complimentary and provided a wide-ranging context for discovery. The interviews with the OSF and UICOMP personnel were crucial in obtaining facility specific expenditure data and operational details,” said Dr. Lewer.” 

Jump is a tool for educating students going into different medical fields with the use of virtual and simulated techniques and focuses on education, research, and innovation. 

The center will improve health care in the area and provide economic growth in the form of job creations and tax revenue. Although the economic impacts of Jump are impressive, the center’s impacts on the health care industry are also remarkable. Overall, the study provided context for stakeholders and offered the center some validity when it began. 

The Jump Center also has a substantial financial benefit on the Peoria area economic system, totaling an estimated $92 million for the 2014-2018 period.  These cumulative impacts over the first five years include $59 million of direct, indirect and induced regional spending with facility construction and around $32 million of regional economic impacts resulting from direct, indirect and induced operations expenditures impacts.

In terms of health care employment, the Jump Center is helping attract additional professionals and researchers to live and work in the region, contributing to the continued growth of health care as leading sector in this region’s economy.

Bradley students can look to these professionals as role models for their future careers. The teamwork involved in this project is very similar to the cooperation needed in most other professional studies. 

“Successful team project require a sound understanding of the project’s subject, a sound plan and timeline for how the project will be conducted, and with well-defined roles/responsibilities for each of the team members,” Weinstein said. “All team efforts require proactive communication between members of the team and a willingness to cooperate.”