CBER Mission
The Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) was established in 1937 as an auxiliary of the College of Business Administration at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The mission of CBER is to produce and disseminate new information in the general area of economic research, and in the specific areas of economic development, regional economics and fiscal policy. CBER has an annual operating budget in excess of $1 million and is funded through state appropriations and grant/contract research. The Center has five research faculty and an extensive support staff. CBER is a designated State Data Center allowing direct and timely access to Census and other data.
CBER Services
Economic Modeling and Forecasting
CBER staff have an extensive track record in conducting and supervising research projects, both large and small. CBER annually prepares the Economic Report to the Governor and maintains the Tennessee Econometric Model (TEM) of the state economy, which provides quarterly, annual and long-term economic and fiscal forecasts. In addition to the Tennessee Econometric Model, recent modeling activities at CBER include development of the Tennessee Employment Security Insurance Model (to estimate and forecast Employment Security trust fund balances); a forecasting model that projects future Families First caseloads, recipients and grant expenditures for the Tennessee Department of Human Services; and a revenue-estimating model for Nashville-Davidson County.
State Data Center
CBER provides access to electronic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and answers questions on these data. A free newsletter is published semi-annually with the most current population estimates and other topics of interest.
TNDATA Web
CBER maintains an online database of demographic and economic time series in order to make Tennessee data available to government agencies, libraries, businesses, news services, and the general public.
Other CBER projects
Other recent CBER projects include monthly tax analysis assistance to the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration; economic and fiscal impact studies for the state, local governments and the private sector; analysis of incentives to promote economic development (for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development); a survey of state residents on the TennCare program; an exhaustive analysis of Tennessee's welfare program, Families First; and numerous projects in the area of taxation on e-commerce and Internet usage.
revised: July 29, 2009