Dornfest Final Presentation.pdf

This paper examines the treatment effect of institutes of advanced manufacturing seeded by the interagency Manufacturing USA program. With tens of millions of dollars awarded annually in grants resulting in even more private sector investment it is expected that there is an empirical (and positive) impact because of these manufacturing innovation institutes. First, a standard regression analysis establishing the average national trends for our metrics of choice (unemployment, median wages, productivity, ect) is performed on data obtained from both the Census Bureau’s (CB) county business patterns database, and through EMSI (a data aggregation utility used by U.S. Department of Commerce staff). A second method of analysis is a regression discontinuity design. Many institutes have satellite campuses which were incorporated at later dates. We look at whether introduction into the Manufacturing USA program has a similar impact across a multi-year scale for any given organization—not simply institute headquarters. If we are successful in showing that the utility derived from the establishment and funding of advanced manufacturing programs is real and measurable, then we are also simultaneously providing tangible evidence in support of federal budgets which continue to fund the office’s ongoing mission and the next generation of manufacturing programs that AMNPO and MEP will sheppard.