Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of The Great Recession On Nevada’S Latino Community, John P. Tuman, David F. Damore, Maria J.F. Agreda

Brookings Mountain West Publications

The emergence of the Great Recession of 2008 had a profound impact in Nevada. The economic downturn generated high unemployment levels and led to turbulence in many sectors, particularly residential home construction and the hospitality industry. In the wake of the crisis, median home prices in Nevada plunged, while the residential foreclosure rate increased and remains one of the highest rates in the country. By 2009, it was evident that a tightening of commercial bank lending for new mortgages, combined with the impact of rising joblessness and plunging housing values, was hampering recovery efforts in the housing sector and Nevada’s …

Mountain Monitor - 3rd Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor marks the four-year anniversary of Brookings Mountain West's quarterly tracking of the uneven pace of recovery across the major metro areas of the Intermountain West and it finds that, although the region continues to outperform the national economy the rate of recovery slowed moderately in the region’s metro areas.

As a group, Mountain region metro areas advanced on all four indicators of economic recovery tracked by the Monitor—employment, output, unemployment, and house prices—but their progress was more restrained in the third quarter of 2013 than it was in the second.

Beneath the regional headline of moderating …

Is College A Good Investment?: An Economic And Policy Analysis, Beth Akers

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture provides a theoretical framework for thinking about the financial returns on the investment in higher education degrees and will present the latest empirical finding on this question. The discussion will touch on the topics of rapid tuition inflation, for-profit colleges, student loan debt, and the potential for a fiscal crisis in the market for student loans.

Identifying And Describing The Network Of Health, Education, And Social Service Non-Profit Organizations In Southern Nevada, Shannon M. Monnat, Anna Smedley

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

Many of the economic, social, and demographic issues facing southern Nevada are dynamic and interrelated, requiring a coordinated approach on the part of southern Nevada’s non‐profit community. The coordination of services, skills, and talents enables community needs to be addressed in ways that exceed the scope and capacity of any single organization. With the increasing desire of funding organizations to support collaborative efforts, maintaining sustainable connections between southern Nevada’s non‐profit organizations is needed now more than ever before.

This is the first comprehensive study of southern Nevada’s health, education, and social service non‐profit network. Via a web‐based survey of nearly …

Concentration On The Las Vegas Strip: An Exploration Of The Impacts, David G. Schwartz

Library Faculty Publications

Looking at two snapshots, albeit from a distance, gives an overview of how concentrated the gaming industry in Nevada has become:

• In 1998, 23 publicly held corporations owned 65 casinos that grossed more than $12 million that year from gaming. These casinos grossed 75.48% of the state’s total gaming revenue that fiscal year.

• In 2012, 22 publicly held corporations owned 70 casinos that grossed more than $12 million that year from gambling, pulling in 78.0% of that state’s total gaming revenue that fiscal year.

Attesting To Unique Attractions: The Significance Of The President's Commission On Organized Crime (1984-1986) Gambling Hearings, David G. Schwartz

Library Faculty Publications

The federal government has had a curious relationship with gambling. For much of its history, the national public policy towards gambling was simple: prohibition, despite the audacity of a few laggard states in experimenting with legalization schemes. Towards the end of the twentieth century, however, the national policy shifted, at first to tolerance of legal gambling to endorsement of it. The five primary federal studies of gambling conducted in the twentieth century—the Kefauver Committee (1950–2), the President’s Crime Commission (1967), the Commission to Review the National Policy on Gambling (1974–6), the President’s Commission on Organized Crime (1984–6), and the National …

The Hidden Stem Economy: The Surprising Diversity Of Jobs Requiring Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math Knowledge, Jonathan Rothwell

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Policy and businesses leaders have argued that there is a shortage of highly educated workers in professional occupations related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Critics have countered that Ph.D scientists often face a difficult academic labor market and do not necessarily earn higher wages than other professionals. Yet, both sides of the STEM debate have been relying on an ill-defined definition of STEM work. Using a detailed survey of worker knowledge requirements, this research project redefines STEM jobs based on the level of knowledge required in STEM fields to perform occupations. The results uncover two facts previously unrecognized …

By Choice Or By Chance? Why Is Nevada Last In Federal Funding And What Can Be Done About It?, Tracy M. Gordon

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The federal government spends more than $600 billion or 17 percent of its budget each year on grants to states and localities. Nevada consistently ranks at the bottom among states in its allocation of federal dollars per capita. This presentation will examine the reasons for Nevada’s “donor state” status including state demographics, federal funding formulas, and state policy decisions. It will focus especially on Medicaid, the largest federal grant program, and Governor Brian Sandoval’s recent decision to participate in the program expansion scheduled for 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. The presentation will also discuss reasons for intergovernmental grants and …

Mountain Monitor - 2nd Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic recovery progressed steadily across the metropolitan Mountain West in the second quarter of 2013. Many of the region’s major metro areas counted among the strongest economic performers nationally, but output growth slowed over the quarter and the region‘s unemployment recovery looked to be stagnating. Moderate job growth and a fast and accelerating housing recovery buoyed the Mountain West economy in the second quarter.

Mountain Monitor-1st Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic recovery gained strength across the major metro areas of the Mountain West in the first quarter of 2013. Multiple metro areas achieved long-awaited full employment recoveries in the first quarter and regional production surpassed pre-recession levels of output for the first time. The region’s strong housing rebound continued to be a boon. Additionally, a special supplement to the Monitor shows that the healthcare sector has been an outsized contributor to recovery throughout the region. Despite progress on multiple fronts, though, many Mountain metro areas remain scarred with high unemployment rates, severely depressed house prices, and daunting jobs deficits.

Game Change: What Have We Learned? Pt. 1, William J. Antholis, Robert E. Lang, William E. Brown, David F. Damore, Helen R. Neill, Bradley S. Wimmer

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Who We Are, What We Do, Where Are We Going

Brookings Mountain West is a partnership between UNLV and the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution.

Goals and Objectives

Create high-quality, independent, impactful programs, publications, and activities that address issues of critical importance to greater Las Vegas and the Intermountain West region.

Serve as a platform to bring ideas and expertise together and facilitate local, metropolitan, and state discussions about the West’s future.

Enhance local, regional, and state research and public policy discussions.

The Euro Area Crisis: Origins, Prospects And Implication For The World Economy And Global Governance, Domenico Lombardi

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

European nations have adopted a common currency and created regional institutions but they are also undergoing the greatest crisis in the integration since the end of World War II. This presentation will explore Europe’s regional integration, assess this process in light of the current crisis, and consider lessons to be learned for other regions, notably Asia.

Mountain Monitor-4th Quarter 2012, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Indicators of economic recovery depicted continued progress in the major metropolitan areas of the Mountain West in the fourth quarter of 2012. The region’s employment recovery gained momentum, and solid home-price increases in the region contributed to the nation‘s broader housing recovery. Such inroads bode well for further advances in 2013. At the same time, the region’s output recovery slowed and unemployment refused to budge.

Applying Well-Being Metrics To Public Policy: Lessons From Experiments Around The World, Carol Graham

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

The ongoing research activity of economists who study what constitutes happiness and make recommendations to governments about how best to increase it continues to receive global attention. The recent publication of the first World Happiness Report, commissioned for the United Nations General Assembly, argues that happiness can be measured objectively; that it differs systematically across societies and over time; that happiness has predictable causes and is correlated to specific things (such as wealth, income distribution, health, and political institutions); and government has the ability to create the right conditions for happiness to flourish. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, meanwhile, …

American Influence In The International Financial Institutions, Shawn Rosen, Jonathan R. Strand

McNair Poster Presentations

As the world becomes more globalized and the prosperity of new, rising powers begins to challenge that of long-standing powers, many scholars and policy-makers have begun to examine America’s place in the global political economy. Ongoing changes in the world politi­cal economy such as the flourishing economies in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), continued integration in Europe, as well as questions about eco­nomic policies derived from American dominated neoliberal ideology have raised many doubts regarding how long the United States can remain the world leader. The conventional wisdom holds that the United States has enough …

Punishment First: A Study Of Juvenile Pretrial Detention, Richard V. Foster, David Tanenhaus, Heather Lynn Lusty

McNair Poster Presentations

How society and the legal system should respond to youth crime is a volatile issue. Much research exists on this topic broadly. A largely overlooked subset exists regarding the rights of juveniles in the United States who face pretrial confinement, specifically how juveniles accused of delinquency are treated by the courts. Delinquency or a delinquent act, in the context of this study, is “an act that would be considered a crime if committed by an adult.”7. Adults and children are processed by the courts differently, each with their own rights and court mandated procedures to follow. This report analyzes …