Tele-Workshop Fact Sheet
October 16 and 17, 2007 

The Basics oF Economic Measurement

Developing an Economic Impact 
Assessment Tool FoR America’S ByWayS® 

SIDEBAR: About the Spotlight Speaker
Shanna Ratner 
Principal,Yellow Wood Associates, Inc. 
228 North Main Street 
St.Albans,Vermont 05478 
Phone: 802-524-6141 
E-mail: shanna@yellowwood.org
 
Shanna Ratner is the Principal of Yellow Wood 
Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in 
rural community economic development since 1985. 
Ms. Ratner has over 22 years experience 
managing complex research initiatives and 
analyzing rural economic development opportunities. 
She has worked closely with Federal, State, and local 
governments, citizen groups, and nonprofit 
organizations in identifying and implementing 
solutions to a range of natural resource-based 
development challenges. Ms. Ratner has worked 
with the National Network of Forest Practitioners 
in designing and implementing the National 
Community Forestry Center, Northern Forest Region. 
Under Ms. Ratner’s leadership,Yellow Wood 
Associates has received four awards from USDA’s 
Small Business Innovation in Rural Development 
program and has produced three trademarked 
services,You Get What You Measure(TM), See the 
Forest(TM), and Green Community Technologies(TM). Ms. 
Ratner was one of a dozen members of the Aspen 
Institute’s Learning Cluster on Rural Community 
Capacity Building and a member of the first class 
of Donella Meadows Fellows in Systems Thinking. 
Ms. Ratner holds a Master of Science degree in 
Agricultural Economics from Cornell University and a 
Bachelor’s Degree in Value Systems from New 
College in Sarasota, Florida. 


The America’s Byways Resource Center 
offered two tele-Workshops on the “Basics 
of Economic Measurement,” featuring 
Shanna Ratner, the principal at Yellow Wood 
Associates, Inc. byway participants shared 
information about their byways’ economic 
measurement efforts and needs, learned 
about the basics of economic measurement 
and participated in a Q&A discussion. 

About a year ago, a national steering 
committee comprised of byway leaders, 
State Coordinators and America’s Byways 
Resource Center staff, selected Yellow 
Wood Associates, Inc., to work with the 
byway community to evaluate the potential 
for an economic impact measurement tool 
that various byways could use to acquire 
applicable data.the first part of the project 
involved three phases: 

Phase 1: Surveying the byway community 
to determine specific needs of 
byway organizations regarding 
economic impact data and 
techniques 

Phase 2: Identifying and reviewing 
existing data collection and 
analysis models in use 

Phase 3: Assessing feasibility of creating 
a tool to collect and analyze 
data that would be simple to 
use and effective for grassroots 
community groups with limited resources 

Now that these three phases have been 
completed,YellowWood Associates and the 
national steering committee have concluded 
that a tool is feasible. Ms. Ratner explained 
to the tele-Workshop audience that Yellow 
Wood Associates will now move into the 
next three phases:

Phase 4: Developing a paper-based tool 

Phase 5: testing and refining the 
electronic tool 

Phase 6: recommending a distribution 
and implementation plan 

Henry Hanka, Special Projects Manager 
at America’s Byways Resource Center, is 
coordinating the project. He said,“This is 
not a study, nor will it determine a national 
aggregate number on economic impact. 
Rather, the project’s goal is to create a 
byway-specific tool that will focus on the 
investment in the corridor in combination 
with visitor spending.” The tool is expected 
to be available to byways in late 2008. 

Ms. Ratner echoed Henry’s comments. 
“Our goal is to create an electronic system 
that has simple navigation and screen-
by-screen instructions that help you to 
generate reports from the data you collect. 
We want background information built into 
it so it’s useful,” she said.“But, the elbow 
grease will come from the byway.” For this 
eason,Yellow Wood Associates have paid 
attention to how byway organizations work 
and their funding sources to make the tool 
affordable to implement and easy to use. 

Pilot tests with Ohio and Kansas have 
begun.the two pilot tests will help shorten 
the learning curve for other byways.“We 
expect to wrap that up in May or June.the 
point of those tests is not the data—the 
data will be irrelevant because it won’t 
cover a long enough period of study—but 
we’ll be able to check the process and 
refine the tool,” Ms. Ratner said. 

The tele-Workshop discussion revealed 
some of the many considerations that 
have contributed to the complexities of 
developing the tool. prior to the call, 
participants could download vocabulary and 
background documents (see resources). 
Ms. Ratner asked for tele-Workshop 
participants’ questions about economic 
measurement. She noted the importance 
byways placed on this topic. 

“Part of the reason scenic byways began 
was to generate economic impact,” she 
said.“So… do they?” 

Ms. Ratner explained that one of the initial 
hurdles for byways that want to measure 
the economic impact of designation is that 
most byways did not collect data prior 
to designation.“You need a baseline—the 
before,” she said.“then you must measure 
again after designation.” The difference from 
before designation to after designation is 
the only way to show the designation’s 
economic impact. She said that the expense 
of a survey often prevents byways from 
completing both measurements. 

Instead of economic impact, byways might 
measure economic significance, which 
identifies the portion of existing economic 
activity that can be attributed to byway 
designation. economic significance can be 
measured at a single point in time. 
Ms. Ratner recommended reviewing the 
online document on economic-related 
vocabulary for further information. 

During the studies of byway needs,Yellow 
Wood learned that byways especially seek 
data and analysis methods that show the 
value of investment, visitation, and spending. 
“What do you think you’ll do with the 
information? Most byways told us that they 
would discuss it or present it to local 
officials.” to provide a realistic snapshot 
of the byway’s importance, the data must 
differentiate between general economic 
significance and the byway designation’s 
economic significance.this applies to all 
three sources of economic activity— 
investment, spending and visitation. 


Intrinsic qualities existed before 
designation. Claiming that intrinsic qualities 
produced economic significance would 
be erroneous. however, byways certainly 
invest in their intrinsic qualities and this has 
economic significance.they invest in 
planning, educational programming, 
renovation, and restoration.they invest 
in protection of natural resources or 
easements.they invest in planning for 
property, construction, and operation. 
those investments are measurable—and 
they would not have happened if the byway 
did not exist. 

It’s safe to assume that because the byway 
organization exists, its activities help 
differentiate economic significance.“If a 
byway organization initiates an activity, then 
a person can argue it is due to the byway. If 
a joint operation takes place with a byway 
organization and another group; or, if there 
is a match-in-kind situation with the byway 
organization, then you can credit the byway,” 
Ms.Ratner said. 

For example, a grant application that 
generates investment dollars is creditable 
to the byway if it specifically acknowledges 
the byway. projects that simply generate 
money but do not reference the byway or 
the byway group are not. 

Consider private investment dollars, too. 
Some may be the result of the byway’s 
designation, such as the renovation of a 
b&b along the route. Renovation that 
occurred regardless of the byway cannot be 
claimed. 

“You can get a complete list of property 
owners in your byway corridor now. Note 
those that are related to intrinsic 
qualities. Then you need to find out if 
they’ve invested money because of byway 
designation,” she added. 

Ms. Ratner commented that spending, as a 
measure of economic significance, is more 
difficult to assess than investment. Spending 
includes typical tourism purchases, such as 
souvenirs, food and lodging.“But there are 
different aspects of spending within that 
general tourism spending,” she cautioned. 
“For example, you can say people spend 
$100 per day per person when they visit a 
byway from out-of-state. but that’s not the 
whole story. There’s leakage.” 

She defined two primary ways for dollars 
to leak outside the byway corridor. 

1. Consumer Leakage - Byway visitors 
spend money outside of the corridor 
For example, if the byway does not have 
lodging facilities within the corridor, then the 
consumer’s spending leaks out of the 
corridor for overnight accommodations. 

2. Producer Leakage - Businesses within 
the corridor purchase supplies from 
outside the corridor 
For example, the B&B buys ingredients for 
food preparation from sources outside the 
corridor to serve breakfast. 

If gross Spending equals the total dollars 
that came from visitors’ wallets, the formula 
to illustrate the economic significance 
actually looks more like: 
\

Gross Spending 

- (Consumer leakage + Producer Leakage) 
= Net Spending 


In reviewing existing economic 
measurement tools, the Yellow Wood 
team incorporated the wisdom of those 
studies that have worked well. Most models
don’t differentiate gross and net spending. 
In fact, some of them apply multipliers to 
their gross numbers, and, very quickly, the 
numbers add up. “Multipliers make sense 
in large geographic areas,” Ms. Ratner said. 
“Byways don’t have State boundaries and 
they’re typically linear and not large. There’s 
greater leakage. However, the leakage is 
important: it helps to reveal the spending 
that spills over to the region surrounding 
the corridor.” 

She commented on spending surveys, too. 
Some byways have simply asked visitors, 
“What did you spend?” This type of survey 
becomes expensive with recruiting, training, 
and paying staff to implement the survey. 
Ms. Ratner said, “Most places don’t do them 
regularly, so you get a limited perspective 
rather than a year-round view. Accuracy 
can be affected.” 

She also acknowledged that some byways 
have tried to extrapolate from State studies. 
“Look for systematic data collection. Some 
State-level data is good, but it varies in 
quality from State to State. Many States rely 
on subset data from national sources. We’re 
working on getting consistent data from 
State to State,” she said. 

Ms. Ratner emphasized that the need for 
differentiation applies to assessing visitation 
in the same way that it does for investment 
and spending. Visitors may be local people 
(and many studies leave out the residents, 
she noted), in-state day visitors/in-state 
overnight visitors, or out-of-state visitors. 
All three categories should be considered, 
but in light of the byway’s contribution to 
piquing their interest in visiting. “If the site 
was internationally famous before 
designation, you cannot claim that 
designation is attracting visitation. Look 
for other sites developed for visitation by 
the byway organization or exhibits on the 
site that have their own market draw 
specific to the byway. You can count the 
site if it wasn’t recognized or valued for 
visitation until the byway promoted it,” 
Ms. Ratner advised. “Look for those byway-added 
features. Then you know the byway is 
instrumental in gaining visitation.” 

Showing a clear link in the documentation, 
motivation or intention related to the 
byway more accurately reflects the byway’s 
designation as a factor in economic gains. 
The approach stands up to scrutiny by local 
officials and fortifies the entire National 
Scenic Byways Program. 


SIDEBAR: Q&A

Q. If we don’t use multipliers, won’t officials think we have a small impact? 

A. Qualify your estimates and make them conservative. Explain exactly how 
you got the numbers. Most people recognize that multipliers are highly 
exaggerated. The new economic measurement tool will help you show 
value in real terms. 

Q. Will the new tool take into account the value of health or spiritual benefits? 
A. So far, the focus is on dollars, not intangibles. Those are definitely benefits to note, 
but we’re not looking at ways to quantify them yet. 

Q. How can we learn more about this economic impact measurement tool? 
A. The development of this byway-specific tool has been byway-led and byway-driven 
from the beginning, so we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think at the 
Discussion Forum at Byways Online: www.bywaysonline.org/forums/viewtopic. 
do?topic=239. You can also learn more about economic impact at the America’s 
Byways Resource Center’s website at www.bywaysresourcecenter.org. Look under 
“Topics - Finances”: www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/topics/finances/. 


SIDEBAR: Resources 

Tele-Workshop Podcasts 
http://www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/ 
events/workshops/teleworkshops/ 

Economic Impact Vocabulary for 
Byways (document) 
www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/topics/ 
finances/economic-impact/tools/1089/ 

Basics of Economic Measurement 
(document) 
www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/topics/ 
finances/economic-impact/articles/1086/ 

Economic Impact Information 
www.bywaysresourcecenter.org/topics/ 
finances/ 

Part I Economic Impact Survey 
Results 
E-mail your request for a PDF to 
center@byways.org. 

Contacts: 
Melinda Huntley 
Steering Committee Chair 
Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail byway leader 
419-609-0399 or huntley@coastalohio.com 

Henry Hanka 
Special Projects Manager 
America’s Byways Resource Center 
218-625-3306 or hhanka@byways.org 

Special Thanks 
The Steering Committee and America’s 
Byways Resource Center would like to 
thank Wetlands and Wildlife Scenic Byway 
(Kansas) and Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail 
(Ohio) for volunteering their staff time 
and resources to testing service vendors 
and equipment in early 2008. This very 
preliminary pre-testing phase will result 
in no usable data for these two byways. 
Their cooperation in testing the 
equipment will benefit all of us in the 
future and is greatly appreciated.


LOGO: America’s Byways Resource Center 


America’s Byways Resource Center 
provides information, connections and expertise 
that help build better byways. State coordinators, 
local groups, volunteers and organizations with ties 
to nationally designated scenic byways look to us 
for hands-on assistance in planning, promoting and 
managing scenic byways. 

please visit www.bywaysresourcecenter.org for 
Tele-Workshop Fact Sheet archives. 


America’s Byways Resource Center 
394 Lake Avenue South, Suite 600 
Duluth, Minnesota 55802 
tel: 218-625-3469 
Fax: 218-625-3333 
866-974-6403 
www.bywaysresourcecenter.org 


© 2007 America’s Byways Resource Center