James Wood

James Wood is the Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow at The Policy Institute. He specializes in several research areas including housing, construction, real estate, and economic impact.  development.

Mr. Wood has published over 100 articles and studies related to the Utah economy. This includes housing markets, community development, regional economics, and economic development. Mr. Wood has conducted numerous studies on local housing market conditions, and was the principal investigator on a sustainable communities grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was also the principal investigator on a two-year cost-benefit study of homeless participants in Utah’s Housing First Program. For fifteen years, Mr. Wood directed a BEBR contract with the State of Utah for economic development research, which included the completion of thirteen industry-specific studies including Utah’s aerospace, natural resource, machinery and electronics industries, and the machinery industry.

Mr. Wood is member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, and serves on the board of the Salt Lake Home Builders Association, the Salt Lake County Housing Trust Fund, NeighborWorks Salt Lake and is a member of the State of Utah Revenue Assumptions Working Group.

A graduate of the University of Utah with a B.S. in finance and four years of graduate study in economics, Mr. Wood joined the business school in 1975 and spent over 25 years as a researcher and senior research analyst. He served as Director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research from 2002 to 2015.