REAP—The Regional Economics and Public Policy Research Group

The forces influencing regional prosperity are still poorly understood, and the effects of many public policies on regional economies remain unclear. The REAP Research Group addresses those gaps through a strategic program of research on regional development, policy evaluation methods, enriched data systems, institutional practices, and policy implementation.

REAP seeks to improve:

• understanding of regional economies and why some places prosper and others do not,
• knowledge of the effects of public policy on regions,
• methods of regional analysis and spatial policy evaluation, and
• the match between university research and public policy.

Related Research at Illinois
The REAP Group is one of several interrelated research teams at the University of Illinois, including the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL), and the Land Use Evolution & Impact Assessment Model (LEAM).  Faculty members and graduate students in REAP participate with members of those groups in the Spatial Policy Analysis Research Consortium (SPARC) and the Regional Science Program.