Horticulture is worth $8.6 billion a year:
North Carolina's booming horticulture sector is driven largely by landscaping and lawn care.
The total spent on such services in the state was $8.6 billion in 2005, according to a study issued Tuesday.
The General Assembly provided $150,000 for the study to help understand the horticulture industry's diversity and importance to the state economy. The study, the first to quantify the industry, could yield clues about the best ways to boost economic development, sponsors said.
How can the insights from an economic impact study help boost economic development? These studies are used to measure the importance of an industry and maybe influence government to pursue policies that help and/or don't hurt the industry (if it is important). Fair enough.
But, in order to boost economic development, demand for the product must increase. If this is a marketing study then landscaping firms will better know their customer base and figure out how to attract increased sales. But in a competitive market the best firms will gain market share and the worst firms will lose. There will be no regional or macroeconomic impact as a result of an economic impact study -- no boost in economic developement.
