JOHN HILL

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 P.O. Box 21
Abilene, Texas 79604

750 N. Judge Ely Blvd.
Abilene, Texas 79601

university office: (325) 670-5871
personal office: (325) 672-4807
cell: (325) 721-4428
facsimile: (325) 677-3500

In the case of an economic damages report of an individual rendered for a plaintiff or defense attorney, the methodology employed is straightforward, hence no introductory interview is needed.  Your first step is to collect accurate information regarding your client's loss.  One must acknowledge that unique events particular to your client's situation make each valuation distinct; however, you may use these questionnaires in cases where a valuation is needed due to a
   
•   death
•   job termination
•   injury
 
Complete these form to initiate a case summary for your client.  A copy of your submission will be returned to you, via email, for your files.  In addition to this information, you should be collecting additional information such as:
   

•   

relevant deposition transcripts
•   tax returns for your client, with the most exhaustive collection spanning a ten year period
•   employer handbooks detailing paid benefits
•   reports of doctors, rehabilitation specialists or vocational analysts
•   and any other information that details compensation and benefits, such as annual compensation reports, check stubs or retirement account statements
 
Given the uniqueness of your client's situation, we may need other, unanticipated information to correctly account for your client's estimation of loss.  When you supply this information, please include the contact information of the person most familiar with the details of the client to expedite the communication of this information.
 
 
In economic reports that require the development of a unique methodology, it is best to begin by scheduling a phone or office interview with me.  For such atypical projects, our interview will serve as a starting point where a determination can be made if my approach as an economist would be useful to your objectives and provide you with worthwhile information.  Examples of such projects include:

 
In 2008, I was approached by a group of local businesspersons to conduct an independent study of the proposed Abilene Youth Sports Authority (AYSA) sports venue.  The report is entitled The Efficiency of Economic Development Expenditures: Returns to Primary Job Creation Under the Stewardship of the Development Corporation of Abilene.  A full text copy of my report is available online with citations. I have archived this study on this site as a pfd document if you'd like to review it.

This commissioning group included Grady Barr, Tucker Bridwell, Ken Burgess, Joe Canon, Ray Ferguson and Bill Senter and, as members of the business community and community volunteers, they recognized the merits of the AYSA, but were curious about how the Development Corporation of Abilene(DCOA) performed in contrast to this proposed youth sports venue.

The methodology employed makes comparable the returns of the proposed AYSC to DCOA returns from job creation.  In my investigation, I discovered that:
  • The track record of the DCOA outperforms the proposed AYSC $6 to $1.
  • Based on their success over the past 17 years, the DCOA has the potential to create over $1 billion in incomes and tax revenues over the next 30 years with the same $15 million under consideration on the May referendum.
  • Based on our demographics and AYSC fees, this venue appeals to a select population, not the community as a whole.
  • The AYSC has an planned annual shortfall of $429,600 which could cost us with additional taxes or reduced city programming if this venue's deficit become the responsibility of the City of Abilene.
  • Tourist venues are easy to replicate; successful and diverse economics are not.
This report was used to successfully defeat the AYSA referendum. When the votes on this referendum were tallyed, the AYSA referendum was defeated by 74% of voters.   Additionally, I presented these results at the Southern Economic Association conference in Washington DC at their annual meetings in 2008.

Abilene has experienced growth in wind energy production.  As an export product, wind energy production brings money to our community from:
  • land leasing and royalties
  • manufacturing of turbines and turbine parts
  • assembly of turbines
  • turbine maintenance
Additionally, the development of wind energy positions the Abilene area as a national hub for alternative energy production.  Given this, the Abilene Industrial Foundation commissioned me to perform a study of the current and potential impact of wind energy on the Abilene regional economy.

After several months of preliminary research, I made the decision that, as an economist, my contribution to the wind energy discussion was not warranted and the AIF and I mutually agreed to abandon the study. Instead, I provided AIF with a list of recommendations that they might pursue to enable the development wind energy for Abilene and I have archived this document as pdf.

This is not to say wind energy is not important - it is - and each day brings new opportunities for Abilene and the Big Country for employment and increased regional product. 

 
  In Spring 2010, The Perryman Group performed a comprehensive review of wind energy's impact on the Texas economy.  The purpose of this estimation was to demonstrate that wind energy has myriad benefits to Texas and that electric infrastructure is crucial if the Texas economy is to realize these benefits.

As an economist, I was asked to perform an independent appraisal of this study to determine if it was methodologically sound and correct in its conclusions. I was one of several Texas economists who performed independent reviews of this study.  In my review of this report, I unqualified support of the The Perryman Groups estimations and assertions regarding the benefits of wind energy to the Texas state economy.
   
Occasionally, local issues pique my curiosity and I use my skills as an economist to analyze these issues.  An example of this was the Fall 2009 school bond election to fund a career tech high school.  The supporters of the bond claimed that district spending on a career tech high school caused the dropout rate to fall because of  vocational programming coupled with a new facility.  TEA data was used to analyze this bit of conventional wisdom and I discovered that new schools add nothing to retention and there exists a statistically significant relationship between the higher vocational spending and increased dropout rates.  

While this was used, primarily, as a teaching tool for my students at Hardin-Simmons University, my comments proved to be unpopular with the supporters of the bond.  Still, this local issue raised interesting research questions and I will be presenting my research results, entitled Shiny Schools: Do New Schools and New Programs Solve the Dropout Problem at the Southwest Society of Economists proceedings at Federated Business Disciplines conference in Dallas in Spring 2010. I have archived this analysis as a pdf if you'd like to review it.