Southern Nevada Regional Industrial Study (March 2024)

Summary

The study finds that although Southern Nevada has limited governance fragmentation, economic development is siloed across jurisdictions. Additionally, unlike neighboring metros, the region lacks a governance structure, such as a council of governments, to facilitate the planning and coordination needed to realize regional economic and infrastructure priorities. Consequently, economic development in Southern Nevada largely involves local governments pursuing their own priorities, often in competition with each other. Alone, none of these entities have the resources to compete with the regionally coordinated economic development regimes that exist in Southern California, Utah’s Wasatch Range, and Arizona’s Sun Corridor.

Also highlighted is how the lack of a robust regional manufacturing sector limits economic diversification and resilience; constrains transportation infrastructure; and undercuts the region’s ability to compete for federal resources available through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Nevada Economic Development and Public Policy 2022-2026: A Sustainable Future for All Nevadans (May 2022)

Summary

This report evaluates economic development efforts in the State of Nevada since the 2011 publication of Unify, Regionalize, Diversify: An Economic Development Agenda for Nevada; assesses demographic and economic trends for Nevada and its regions; examines how state and federal actions since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic can position Nevada and its regions to address long-standing economic, educational, and social deficits; and offers policy recommendations to be implemented between 2022 and 2026 to facilitate a sustainable future for all Nevadans. The report also reviews the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act; the American Rescue Plan Act; the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; and state actions taken during 2020 and 2021 to address the budgetary and policy effects of COVID-19 and aid Nevada’s recovery. Lastly, the report offers recommendations for state and regional policy interventions to strengthen economic development, modernize governance, improve K-12 and higher education performance, invest in transportation systems, address housing deficits, and fortify efforts to mitigate climate change.

Nevada’s Plan for Recovery and Resilience (December 2020)

Summary

The report constitutes an agenda for post-COVID 19 economic recovery for all of Nevada, urban and rural, that seeks to overcome Nevada’s enduring policy fragmentation by providing a high-level framework to coordinate the actions of a broad set of partners, public and private under the leadership of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

Unify, Regionalize, Diversify: An Economic Development Agenda for Nevada (November 2011)

Summary

The Great Recession left Nevada grappling with a bona-fide “inflection point”— a deciding time to remap its future. Lasting changes in U.S. industry structure, spending patterns, and economic behavior are all shaping a historic national “reset” to adapt to the shifting nature of the global economy, with huge implications for all places. In response, Nevada leaders have engaged in a serious discussion about the nature of the state’s economy; the need for diversification; and ways to unleash the business, technology, and government-sector innovation that will drive growth.

To assist with the process, the State of Nevada turned to the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, Brookings Mountain West, and SRI International to provide important analytic and policy background for the state’s planning. Intended as a credible third-party analysis of the state’s competitive position and economic development opportunities, this report speaks to the desire of Nevadans to “get on the same page” by providing a detailed accounting of the state’s present situation and most plausible routes toward economic diversification.