Introduction to Economics for Coastal Managers – This publication provides a basic overview of economic concepts and examples pertinent to coastal resources.
Econ 120 – A series of two-minute videos that explain the significance of key economic concepts.
Using Social Science Data and Tools
The social sciences encompass a broad range of disciplines that aim to describe, explain, and predict human behavior and institutional structures as they interact with their environments. The following prominent social science disciplines are included: Economics, sociology, anthropology, demography, geography, psychology, and policy.
Economics can examine the potential financial impacts of weather and climate variability as a basis for planning and decision-making. Economics is used to estimate the value of a day at the beach or the value of surf boards that are sold.
Sociology, anthropology, demography, and geography can provide information on a population’s vulnerabilities and behavioral responses to weather risk and climate change. These disciplines can look at the number of elderly people at risk during a hurricane and the likelihood of whether or not they evacuate.
Psychology can interpret how people perceive the risks of an impending storm or whether or not they worry about rising sea levels.
The social sciences encompass a broad range of topics. This site focuses specifically on coastal economic and demographic data and the benefits of using these data to help address coastal issues. The site also provides mapping and visualization techniques to help stakeholders and community leaders better understand the power of this information.
Coastal communities frequently make important natural resource management decisions. Each decision involves trade-offs, with tangible and intangible benefits to consider. Some are easy to factor in, like jobs and wages, but how does one compute the benefits of a beautiful day at the beach? Economics can help. Officials can use economic tools and data to make wise decisions about a variety of scenarios. Additionally, putting economic information into a geospatial format helps users visualize this information and better understand the results.
There are two kinds of economic data: Market and nonmarket.
Market Data generally pertain to things that are made and sold but also include the number of businesses in a community, the number of employees, and the amount of money that is generated.
Ocean and Great Lakes Economic Data
Economics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) – ENOW quantifies the jobs, wages, establishments, and gross domestic product at the county, state, and national level. The values reflect jobs that depend on the oceans and Great Lakes. (Generated from Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and Gross Domestic Product data.)
Total Economy Data for Coastal Watersheds
Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics (STICS) – STICS takes economic data produced by a variety of government agencies and links them to specific geographies: Coastal zones, floodplains, and watersheds. Information about jobs and earnings, combined with demographic data, assists communities with assessing socioeconomic trends and projections.
Other Market Data Sets (both represented in ENOW)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) – These data provide U.S. county-level totals of business establishments, employment, and annual wages.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – GDP measures the size and composition of the U.S. economy, measuring the value of U.S. goods and services.
Other Market Data Sets
Nonemployer Statistics – This national data set shows the number of self-employed workers and the revenues generated by them. This is a companion data set to the Economics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) because self-employed workers and their revenues are not represented in ENOW.
Nonmarket data pertain to values that aren’t reflected in the market. For example, data are available on the cost of surfboards, but no sales receipts are generated for the value of a good day of surfing. This information is difficult to quantify, but some data are available.
National Ocean Economics Program (NOEP) developed a data set that has a wide range of nonmarket values which can be viewed and downloaded from its website.
Demographics describe population characteristics such as age, gender, race, and location. Some data sets can be used to project future community characteristics. Demographic data are available from many different sources; therefore, the challenge lies in extracting the coastal component from the larger data sets.
Social Vulnerability Index (SOVI) – SOVI data provide a compilation of social and economic variables used to indicate a county’s vulnerability to environmental hazards. Factors such as race and class, wealth, age, ethnicity, and employment do make differences in a community’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from storms. (Generated from U.S. Census Bureau data.)
Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics (STICS) – STICS delivers national socioeconomic data sets divided by the geographies important to coastal managers: Coastal zones, floodplains, and watersheds. It includes estimates of demographic status and trends and offers data downloads. With over 50 percent of U.S. citizens living in a coastal watershed county, it is critically important for decision-makers to know more about the people who live and work in the community.
U.S. Census Bureau– The census data are rich with numbers on how many people live where—and about their ethnicities, ages, education levels, housing arrangements, and income levels. The census is the go-to place for locating these data at a variety of scales, which can be used to understand who makes up a community.