MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH.

• Author: Barkey, Patrick

Someone once said that the telephone and the jet plane made the world a smaller place. But those amazing inventions are arguably nothing compared to the internet--a technology that lets us watch the sun set in Siberia or watch our grandkids play soccer across town. It's a technology that has changed everything around us.

Plenty has changed in Montana as well--and it continues to change. This issue of the Montana Business Quarterly reports on the astounding speed at which the news and information business is evolving. The days of watching the evening news on one of two or three channels are over and what's taken its place may surprise you.

Even though this is just one of many pivotal studies the Bureau of Business and Economic Research has conducted in recent years, I think it showcases two important aspects of what we do. The first is information gathering. Without accurate, unbiased, rigorous data gathering, decision-making is helpless. Our survey research team...