Productivity and Prosperity

University Research and Local Economic Development


Kent Hill, Ph.D.
Principal Research Economist, L. William Seidman Research Institute

Provides a review of studies that examine the extent to which university research promotes local economic growth and development, with a primary focus on economic impacts that derive from the innovative outputs of faculty. These impacts include the attraction of industrial laboratories, the start-up of new high-tech businesses, and competitive advantages enjoyed by local businesses when their technology is advanced by university research.


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Kent Hill, Ph.D.
Kent Hill, Ph.D.
Principal Research Economist, L. William Seidman Research Institute

After completing his undergraduate degree in economics at Wake Forest University, Kent received his Ph.D. in economics from Rice University in 1979. He was an assistant professor at ASU from 1978 to 1983. After leaving the university for seven years, during which he worked in the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, he returned to ASU to teach in 1991. He joined ASU’s L. William Seidman Research Institute in 1999.


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