Economic Insight, Inc. and Insight Research, Inc. are sub-chapter S Oregon Corporations. They are, respectively, a consulting firm and a publishing firm headed by Dr. Samuel A. Van Vactor, the first of which was founded in 1981 with the goal of providing reliable data and analyses to its clients. That Dr. Van Vactor has succeeded in his mission is evidenced by his growing reputation and the number of returning clients. Over the course of two decades, Dr. Van Vactor has trained young economists in the application of economic science to real-world problems. Many of his former employees have gone on to graduate school to complete a Ph.D., to business school for an MBA, or to law school for a JD. For more information on job opportunities and careers see the "Careers" page.

Energy is a vital sector in the world’s economy, representing as much as one-quarter of all economic activity. Inefficient energy markets and high prices can throttle economic development and growth, as they did in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A principal focus of EII has been to analyze and explain the behavior of the energy industries as firm structure has changed and regulatory institutions have evolved. As the emphasis of policy makers has shifted to open commodity markets, EII has gained the expertise necessary to analyze the new institutions and to recommend changes, leading to enhanced economic efficiency. To learn more about EII’s analyses and reports, see the “About Us” section of the web page.