Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Economic Development In The Massachusetts Life Sciences Cluster: Shared Prosperity Or A Big Tradeoff?, Brandynn Holgate

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Policies aimed at economic development can be judged by two criteria: efficiency and equity. -Policies that result in both greater efficiency and greater equity lead to shared economic prosperity for a region. The innovation economy includes some of the fastest growing industries which generate new wealth in the U.S. Within this context, the life sciences industry has been a prime target for economic development for individual states. This case study examines the economic development agenda in the Massachusetts life sciences industry and whether these efforts result in both sustaining competitive advantage (i.e., continuous innovation that improves productivity and product and …

Mountain Monitor - 3rd Quarter 2014, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

As a group, the 10 major metro areas of the Mountain West outperformed the national economy during the third quarter of 2014 on all four indicators of economic vitality measured by the Mountain Monitor: employment growth, output growth, unemployment, and house prices. In the three months ending in September, the country’s large metropolitan areas were anticipating the rapid uptick in national economic growth that took hold at the end of 2014. Mountain region metro areas led the way.

All but two major metro areas in the region added jobs, and six did so at a faster rate than the …

“Decentralization Dilemma In Indonesia: Does Decentralization Breed Corruption?”, Glenys Kirana

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Given the pervasiveness of corruption, collusion and nepotism during Suharto’s rule (1967-1998), many people assume that the Reformasi era (1998-present) would introduce a new wave of liberal democratic values, which would consequently reduce corruption in Indonesia. This paper seeks to look at the changes in people’s socio-political incentives to corrupt given the changes in political and legal structure, analyzing it in the context of its contribution to Indonesia’s socio-economic development. Specifically, it centers on how decentralization has affected corruption in the regional districts, legislative, judiciary, and other civil society groups. It is the prominence of the corruption issue in the …

Five Year Strategic Plan For Economic Development: Prepared For The Town Of Winthrop, Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center For Public Management, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management Publications

In the spring of 2014, the Town of Winthrop hired the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston to help develop a Strategic Plan for Economic Development. The Center’s project team began its work by carefully analyzing data in order to understand Winthrop’s current business environment, and to learn how it has changed over time. Multiple sources of information were used, including the Census Bureau’s Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and County Business Patterns, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Claritas retail leakage data. In addition, the project team distributed and …

One Development Project, Two Economic Tales: The St. Louis Cardinals’ Busch Stadium And Ballpark Village, Eric Click

Missouri Policy Journal

This article focuses primarily on the interrelated economic development project of the St. Louis Cardinals’ new Busch Stadium (2006) and Ballpark Village (2014). While the new Busch Stadium officially opened on April 10, 2006, and Ballpark Village officially opened on March 27, 2014, nearly eight years later, since the opening of Ballpark Village only included the completion of Phase 1, this interrelated development is actually ongoing and yet to reach fully planned and promised project completion. While originally proposed and envisioned as one simultaneous but layered project, the building and realization of the two entities eventually became two separate but …

Mountain Monitor - 2nd Quarter 2014, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

Economic growth returned to the 10 major metro areas of the Mountain West in the second quarter of 2014 after slippage in the first quarter of the year. The resumption of vitality progressed unevenly, however. Denver and Salt Lake City pulled ahead as the fastest-growing metro areas in the region. Ogden and Provo’s days of above-average growth appeared to be fading. Las Vegas’ economic recovery advanced strongly, but Sun Belt peers Phoenix and Tucson had more difficulty moving beyond the first quarter’s slowdown. Albuquerque, for its part, welcomed a return to employment and output growth.

Across the region’s 10 major …

Louisiana's Water Innovation Cluster: Is It Ready For Global Competition?, Stephen C. Picou

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The rapid growth of Louisiana's coastal restoration science and technology assets is paralleled by the growth of business resources to fulfill myriad project needs. Many institutions and organizations in Louisiana seek to further develop the state's research, education, engineering and related restoration assets into a globally competitive set of industries with exportable expertise and products that help the state capitalize on its water challenges. Globally, similar efforts are identified (and often branded) as water technology innovation clusters (or more simply water clusters). This paper explores the phenomenon of the development of water clusters by public-private partnerships and initiatives, nationally and …

Economic Development Recommendations That Focus On The "Working Poor": Lessons From Waco, George Erickcek, Don Edgerly, Brian Pittelko, Claudette Robey, Bridget F. Timmeney, Jim Robey

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Lessons From Lived Experience: From Fresh Insights To Effective Action, Lisa Deangelis, Maureen A. Scully, Andrea Wight

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 34 fellows in the 2014 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Learning from Lived Experience: From fresh insights to effective action." Each year, the projects draw upon a theme or lesson from the prior year. Last year and this year, fellows saw how the lived experiences of both their stakeholders and themselves generated nuanced and appropriate approaches to problem-solving. The fellows worked with six community partners, giving their time and professional skills to understand how to frame complex social challenges, engage new partners and resources, and sharpen strategic plans. They conducted surveys, interviews, open …

Mountain Monitor - 1st Quarter 2014, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor finds that the rate of economic recovery in the major metropolitan areas of the Mountain West is no longer impervious to national trends.

The previous edition of the Mountain Monitor observed that the regional rate of recovery seemed to be converging toward that of the nation. This edition of the Mountain Monitor suggests that the trend has progressed further.

The rate of economic recovery broadly slowed across the region from the fourth quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, just as it did nationally. The national headlines in the first three months of the …

The “Community Entertainment District” Designation As A Tool For Urban Redevelopment In Cincinnati, Ohio, Whitney Mcintyre Miller, Julie Cencula Olberding

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Many urban neighborhoods in the United States have experienced an exodus of businesses. Their Main Streets—once consisting of bustling restaurants and stores—are now marked by “for rent” signs and boarded windows. Some community leaders have given up, but others are actively trying to bring businesses back. In Cincinnati, Ohio, several neighborhoods are starting to use the community entertainment district (CED) designation to attract entertainment and arts establishments. This paper presents an evaluation of the implementation and early impacts of the CED in one neighborhood, which may be insightful to leaders in other urban areas in Ohio and beyond.

Democratic Vs. Capitalist Peace: A Test In The Developing World, Faruk Ekmekci

Peace and Conflict Studies

This paper aims to test the capitalist and democratic peace arguments within the developing world. Notwithstanding the theoretical arguments and empirical evidence which indicate two different dynamics of interstate conflict in the developing and the developed worlds, the proponents of both “democratic peace” and “capitalist peace” arguments did not take into account the distinction between developing and developed countries and tested their hypotheses within samples that included “all dyads” in different time periods. This study aims to fill this gap by testing capitalist and democratic peace arguments within the developing world. It tests the capitalist and democratic peace arguments through …

Connecting People And Place Prosperity: Workforce Development And Urban Planning In Scholarship And Practice, Greg Schrock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, the field of workforce development has emerged as a distinct area of policy and practice. While planning scholars have begun to engage with the workforce development field, its relevance and points of connection to planning scholarship remain underexplored. This article attempts to define the workforce development field by articulating its core concerns as well as its domains of practice and scholarship outside the planning field. The article locates workforce development within three stands of planning scholarship, concluding that workforce development represents an important bridge for planners between “place” and “people” prosperity within communities.

Explaining County Government Budget Transparency In An Age Of E-Government, Jonathan M. Birds, Leander D. Kellogg, E. Lee Bernick

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

This research seeks to explain budgetary transparency practices of individual US counties by examining the extent of information sharing with constituents via their websites. There are 3,138 counties and county-equivalents in the United States. This study evaluates a random sample of 400 US counties where 19% of the represented counties having populations of 100,000 or more residents, matching the same ratio of counties with populations of 100,000 or more residents nationally. We create a four-level categorical dependent variable measuring budget transparency. Using an ordered probit analysis with six independent variables we are able to explain the probability of counties having …

Examining The Target Levels Of State Renewable Portfolio Standards, Laurence D. Helwig

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

At present 37 US states have passed Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) or have a legislative driven goal that supports investment in renewable energy (RE) technologies. Previous research has identified economic, governmental, ideological and infrastructural characteristics as key predictors of policy adoption and renewable energy deployment efforts (Carley, 2009; Davis & Davis, 2009; Bohn & Lant, 2009; Lyon & Yin, 2010). To date, only a few studies have investigated the target levels of renewable portfolio standards. Carley & Miller (2012) found that policies of differing stringencies were motivated by systematically different factors that included governmental ideology. The purpose of this study …

Promoting Justice, Peace, And Understanding Through Partnerships And Dialogue, Center For Peace, Democracy, And Development, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Center for Peace, Democracy and Development (CPDD) promotes conflict resolution, democracy, economic development, education building, media development, and legal and judicial reform through partnerships and training programs across the globe. We offer academic and practical expertise across the spectrum of conflict management and democratic governance. Moreover, we mentor the next generation of peace and democracy builders from the UMass Boston student body who actively participate in many of our initiatives. The Restorative Justice Mediation Project (RJUMP) is a university-based program that aims to provide restorative justice services, education and training to the Suffolk County law enforcement community, department of …

Mountain Monitor - 4th Quarter 2013, Kenan Fikri, Mark Muro

Mountain Monitor Quarterly

The quarter’s Mountain Monitor finds that the pace of economic recovery in the Mountain West region’s major metropolitan areas converged toward that of the rest of the nation in the last quarter of 2013.

While quarterly performance on the Monitor’s four indicators of economic recovery—employment, output, the unemployment rate, and house prices—varied considerably across the 10 major metro areas of the region, their combined performance broadly slowed to track with the rate of national economic recovery. The quarter’s average job growth remained unchanged in the region at 0.4 percent as the national economy caught up. The gap between the national …

Does Access To Information Technology Make People Happier? Insights From Well-Being Surveys From Around The World, Carol Graham, Milena Nikolova

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

This lecture summarizes new research on the relationship between access to cell phones, TV, and the internet and subjective well-being worldwide. Technology access is positive for well-being in general, but with diminishing marginal returns for those who already have much access. It is also associated with increased stress and anger among cohorts for whom access to the technologies is new. The increased financial inclusion in very poor countries that comes with cell phones and mobile banking also has effects on well-being. Well-being levels are higher in the countries with higher levels of access to mobile banking, but so are stress …

Life Sciences Innovation As A Catalyst For Economic Development: The Role Of The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Barry Bluestone, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Alan Clayton-Matthews

No abstract provided.

Economic Diversity In Appalachia: Statistics, Strategies, And Guides For Action, Edward Feser, Troy Mix, Mark White, Kenneth Poole, Deborah Markley, Erik Pages

Troy D Mix

Commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission, this report accomplishes three aims. First, it offers a quantitative portrait of economic diversity trends in Appalachian counties and sub-regions, benchmarked to U.S. trends. The portraits draws on four complementary indexes of diversity: industrial, functional, occupational, and knowledge, with the first two based on the mix of industries in a place and the latter two based on the mix of occupations. Second, the report summarizes diversity trends, economic development practices, and diversification strategies in ten Appalachian counties. The ten cases offer insights into economic development practitioners’ understanding of what economic diversity means for their …

Statistical Portrait Of Economic Diversity In Appalachia, Troy D. Mix, Edward J. Feser

Troy D Mix

Commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission, this report presents a quantitative portrait of economic diversity trends across US and Appalachian counties. The portrait draws on four complementary indexes of diversity: industrial, functional, occupational, and knowledge, with the first two based on the mix of industries in a place and the latter two based on the mix of occupations. Analysis and discussion focuses on the utility of economic diversity for informing regional development practice in Appalachia.

City Of Port Wentworth Historic Downtown Redevelopment Proposal, Nathan Griffin

Georgia Municipal Association Practicum

No abstract provided.

The Modern Streetcar In The United States: Do Cities Have The Information Needed To Make Informed Choices?, Elle Hull

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Streetcars have made a comeback in cities in North American in the last several decades; there are now over 45 cities operating, building, or planning streetcars. The majority of these streetcars are viewed primarily as catalysts for economic development, rather than as a means of public transportation. However, the streetcar’s claim of promoting development is backed by surprisingly little evidence.

Although carrying out an analysis of the impact of streetcars on economic development is beyond the scope of this paper due to problems with data availability, methods of performing such an analysis are discussed. This includes a list of cities …