Introduction

An important component of local decision making involves determining what probably will happen when a policy change is implemented. Local decisions, after all, are not made without an idea of what to expect. Decisions simply are not made without regard to future consequences. If organizations can ascertain the future effects of policy changes, they can act accordingly. Since many policy decisions at the local level involve fiscal matters, an increasingly predominant method used to measure these future effects of policy changes is economic modeling, especially the simulation and forecasting components of economic modeling.