1. We are WSP
  2. What We Do
  4. economic-and-market-analysis

Economic and Market Analysis

WSP USA’s team of economists guides public and private infrastructure owners, planners, regulators, and policy makers through the investment decision-making process from both financial and economic perspectives, at the local, metropolitan, regional, national and international levels. We provide insight on how infrastructure investments shape economic outcomes, including goods movement, labor markets, economic productivity, and broader regional competitiveness.

Forecasting Investment Outcomes

For sectors characterized by a mix of funding such as user fees, debt, and grants, WSP has developed numerous models projecting the financial and economic rates of return on a wide range of projects. These issues are particularly important in determining how the project could be funded, and we apply these principles in a variety of settings.

Our strategy is to be responsive to our clients’ needs, constraints and the implications of investments for policy decisions. We evaluate the benefits, costs and tradeoffs of investment, quantify their impacts economically, environmentally and socially, and identify the economic impacts of different pricing and funding strategies.

Among the range of tools we have developed and use to support economic impact analysis is the firm’s PRIoritization Scenario Model (PRISM™), which is used for comprehensive benefit cost and return on investment analyses. PRISM™ also evaluates the wider economic impacts of projects, drawing on advanced regional economic modeling techniques. PRISM™ is a proven and reliable tool to help craft long-term strategic plans, prioritize projects, determine the feasibility and impacts of potential public investments, and market large projects to governments and the public.

Our team’s capabilities include:

  • Benefit-cost analysis
  • Cost risk analysis/Monte Carlo simulations
  • Econometric modeling/demand forecasting
  • Economic impact analysis
  • Grant application support
  • Market demand analysis
  • Real estate and fiscal impact analysis
  • Regional and economic model development
  • Socioeconomic/land use forecasting
  • Toll, fare, tariff and price elasticity studies

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