- Economy of Illinois
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country = Illinois
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caption = Chicago Broad of Trade building
currency =U.S. dollar
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gdp = $528 billionUSD (2004)
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per capita = $32,965USD (2003)
sectors =Agriculture Service sector Financial
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spelling =The economy of
Illinois is highly diverse. TheChicago metropolitan area is home to many of the nation's largest companies, includingBoeing ,McDonalds ,Motorola , andUnited Airlines . The Chicago area economy headquarters a wide variety of financial institutions, and is home to the largestfutures exchange in the world, theChicago Mercantile Exchange .The 2004 total
gross state product for Illinois was $528 billion, placing it fifth in the nation. The 2003 per capita income was $32,965. The state's industrial outputs include machinery, food processing, electrical equipment, chemical products, publishing, fabricated metal products, transportation equipment, petroleum and coal.Agriculture
Most of the state of Illinois lies outside of the Chicago urban area and inside the North American
Corn Belt . Corn, soybeans, and other large-fieldcrops are grown extensively. These crops and their products account for much of the state's economic output outside of Chicago. Much of the field crop is remanufactured into feed for hogs andcattle . Dairy products and wheat are important secondary crops in specific segments of the state. Illinois produces morecheese than the state ofWisconsin .In addition, some Illinois farmers grow specialty crops such as
popcorn andpumpkin s. The state is the largest producer of pumpkins among the U.S. states. [ http://www.agr.state.il.us/newsrels/r1022041.html Illinois Department of Agriculture ] There is a largewatermelon growing area centered onLincoln, Illinois .Illinois wine is a growing industry. In December 2006, the Shawnee Hills were named Illinois's firstAmerican Viticultural Area (AVA).cite news | title = Matter of taste: Area in southern Illinois gets Shawnee Hills designation | publisher = Springfield, Ill. "State Journal-Register" | date =2006-12-14 | page = 21]Manufacturing
Illinois's manufacturing sector grew out of its agricultural production. A key piece of infrastructure for several generations was the
Union Stock Yards of Chicago, which from 1865 until 1971 penned and slaughtered millions of cattle and hogs into standardized cuts ofbeef andpork .The centralized location of Illinois made it a key manufacturing hub, especially for
farm machinery and specialtymotor vehicle s. InDownstate Illinois , theJohn Deere Company became one of the world's largest makers of farm machinery, andCaterpillar achieved similar dominance in its diversified line ofoff-road vehicle s.The Chicago area, meanwhile, began to produce significant quantities of telecommunications gear, electronics, steel, automobiles, and industrial products.
As of 2004, the leading manufacturing industries in Illinois, based upon value-added, were chemical manufacturing ($16.6 billion), food manufacturing ($14.4 billion), machinery manufacturing ($13.6 billion), fabricated metal products ($10.5 billion), plastics and rubber products ($6.8 billion), transportation equipment ($6.7 billion), and computer and electronic products ($6.4 billion). [Manufacturing in Illinois. Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. [http://www.commerce.state.il.us/NR/rdonlyres/CA702D14-2D58-4762-A240-BDB2044485A4/0/Manufacturing2006.pdf] ]
ervices
By the early 2000s, Illinois's economy had moved toward a dependence on high-value-added services such as financial trading,
higher education ,logistics , andmedicine . In some cases, these services clustered around institutions that hearkened back to Illinois's earlier economies. For example, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a trading exchange for globalderivatives , had begun its life as an agriculturalfutures market .The
Wall Street Journal summarized Illinois's economy in November 2006 with the comment that "Chicago has survived by repeatedly reinventing itself." Brat, Ilan, "Tale of a Warehouse", Wall Street Journal, Nov. 8, 2006, page A1.]Flash index
The Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois publishes a "flash-index" that aims to measure expected economic growth in Illinois. The indicators used are
corporate earnings ,consumer spending andpersonal income . These indicators are measured throughtax receipts , adjusted forinflation . 100 is the base, so a number above 100 representsgrowth in the Illinois economy, and a number below 100 represents a shrinking economy. [http://www.igpa.uiuc.edu/programs/flashindex.asp IGPA Flash Index] Data from the index, from 6/1981 to the present, can be found [http://www.igpa.uiuc.edu/press/flashArchive.asp here] .References
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