According to today’s Baltimore Sun, a spokesperson the mayor’s office has stated that Baltimore will not commission an economic impact study of this year’s Grand Prix. The official, Ryan O’Doherty, noted that a 2011 study of the race “confirmed what we know is an undisputed fact and that is the event has a significant positive economic impact,” but not everyone is convinced, including UMBC economics professor Dennis Coates. Coates conducted an economic impact study on the 2011 Grand Prix, based on surveys of race-goers, that showed less positive figures than reported by the mayor’s office. Responding to O’Doherty’s statement Coates remarked, “They …