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...

Using U.S. county data from 1990 and 2000, a family of spatial models examining growth in population and employment are reported. Special attention is paid to the role of microenterprises--firms with less than five employees--in predicting economic growth. Results suggest that microenterprises...

This paper applies recent developments in forecasting spatial process models to estimate the impact of input shocks on China's 1999 gross value added output (GVAO) in agriculture. A Cobb-Douglas production function allowing total factor productivity to vary across regions is used to forecast the...

Under- and overeating (based on calories) are different problems than being under- and overweight (based on BMI); they thus require different economic prescriptions. To study these differences, I use a quantile regression method that allows an examination of covariate effects at different points...

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...

Based on four years of province-level health care data, this paper analyzes the productive efficiency of China's health care sector in the post reform period. Data envelopment analysis is used to compute efficiency measures, which indicate that there was still room for improvement in the...

Using individual business surveys, this study examines the most important factors for firms' decisions to relocate or expand in the past as well as their intention to relocate or expand in the future. Results indicate that factors related to firms' internal characteristics, features of location...

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...

Because it has a large, growing population but only a small share of land that can be cultivated, it is important for China to enhance its agricultural productivity through technological progress. Using data envelopment analysis, we decompose productivity into pure technical efficiency change,...