I guess they do the same in the "real world" as noted by the aforementioned "multiplier effect."
The story is too complicated for me to summarize, so I will simply link it for those interested.
But the bottom line is that for every dollar the state or the federal government spent (with tax dollars) in various enterprises, there is a "multiplier effect" with regard to how much is returned to society.
A multiplier simply measures the number of times the money recirculates within an area’s economy before leaving into another area’s economy, according to the story.
For the university system, that multiplier turned out to be about 2.94, which is to say the system spent $1 billion in state and non-state funds and had an impact of $2.95 billion (There’s rounding involved, which is why it’s a bit off.). UND had a multiplier of 2.95 and NDSU 2.92.For the North Dakota university system, the multiplier effect is a "whopping" 2.94.
For North Dakota retail: 2.09
For North Dakota agriculture: 3.69
For North Dakota oil industry:1.92
It's my understanding the report was commissioned and paid for by one of the universities.
