We analyze the impact of economic development policies and highway infrastructure improvements on growth of per capita income and jobs in Michigan counties. The policies considered for analysis have significant impact on growth outcomes. However, this effect is non-linear. Significant...

This study uses modeled Small Area Estimates data to analyze the labor market influences on child poverty rates in local areas. These data support analysis of small geographic areas as well as at different points of the business cycle. Statistical tests appropriate for data with geographic and...

Urban sprawl has been criticized for its disproportionate impact on the environment. Yet urban areas are in fact less land-intensive than recent rural development patterns. Residential first-movers into such virgin areas may spark waves of ensuing development without incorporating the true...

This article illustrates the commonly overlooked sample selection problem inherent in using rural classification methods that change over time due to population changes. Since fast-growing rural areas grow out of their rural status, using recent rural definitions excludes the most successful...

The portion of the South known as the Black Belt lies at the heart of what was once the cotton-and-tobacco plantation region and retains a large black population. Despite the Black Belt's high poverty rates and relatively slow economic growth, its large net loss of blacks to urban areas over the...

Using the endogenous growth model proposed by Romer (1990) and operationalized by Stern, Porter, and Furman (2000), we seek to identify factors that affect innovative capacity in the U.S. We find strong evidence of endogeneity between employment growth and innovative capacity. In response, we...

In this paper, I perform a spatial econometric analysis of the determinants of regional specialization patterns across EU regions. Spatial correlation is evident, but this is due mostly to spatial error autocorrelation. Spatial interaction caused by positive economic interdependencies might be...

Many argue that tourism development is beneficial for local economies, partly because of spillover effects. Others hold that tourism jobs are lower paying, often seasonal, and can generate a host of social ills with earned income concentrated in low-income households. A Social Accounting Matrix...

A large and growing literature has developed to explain how state and local policies affect factor markets, firm location, and economic growth; but it has emerged in three distinct threads. These threads have variously emphasized how policy and natural amenities affect regional economic growth,...

Regional science is highly relevant in assessing issues that tangibly impact our lives. Conversely, economics is so fixated on mathematical rigor that it does not have the impact on policy that it should. Similar constructive criticisms apply to geography. To illustrate how regional scientists...