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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Spatial Equilibrium In The Labor Market, Philip E. Graves Jan 2013

Spatial Equilibrium In The Labor Market, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

The paper discusses two approaches to spatial equilibrium in the labor market. The more traditional approach of labor economics assumes wage differentials represent arbitrageable differences in utility, with implications 1) that migration should be toward higher wage areas and 2) that migration flows will lead to convergence in wages over space. The more recent approach of urban/regional economics follows Roback in examining the implications of assumed equilibrium in utility over space. In this view wage differentials are compensatory (along with rent differentials) for amenity variation over space. The implications for wage convergence over space are complicated, but in general there …


The Hedonic Method Of Valuing Environmental Policies And Quality, Philip E. Graves Jan 2013

The Hedonic Method Of Valuing Environmental Policies And Quality, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

Benefit-cost analysts attempt to compare two states of the world, the status quo and a state in which a policy having benefits and costs is being contemplated. For environmental policies, this comparison is greatly complicated by the difficulty in inferring the values that individuals place on an increment to environmental quality. Unlike ordinary private goods, environmental goods are not directly exchanged in markets with observable prices. In this chapter, the hedonic approach to inferring the benefits of an environmental policy is examined.


Spatial Equilibrium In Labor Markets, Philip E. Graves Jan 2013

Spatial Equilibrium In Labor Markets, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

Over long periods of human history, labor market equilibrium involved movements from low-wage areas to high-wage areas, a form of arbitrage under the implicit view that wage differentials corresponded to utility differentials. This “labor economics” view is likely to be viable as long as movement and information costs are high, and under this view the movements would be expected to cause wage convergence over space. In recent decades, perhaps beginning as early as the 1960’s, both the out of pocket and psychological costs of movement have plummeted with advances in transportation and communication technology and innovation. In addition, these same …


The Peculiar Immobility: Regional Affinity And The Postbellum Black Migrant, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton, Richard Vedder Jan 2012

The Peculiar Immobility: Regional Affinity And The Postbellum Black Migrant, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton, Richard Vedder

PHILIP E GRAVES

Why did newly freed slaves and their descendants wait a half a century before migrating in large numbers to the superior economic opportunities in the North? Census lifetime migration data on both movers and stayers are examined intertemporally for both whites and blacks. Regression analysis reveals that before 1920 Southern blacks had a very strong affinity for the "Southern way of life."


The Economics Of Ghost Towns, Philip E. Graves, Stephan Weiler, Emily E. Tynon Jan 2009

The Economics Of Ghost Towns, Philip E. Graves, Stephan Weiler, Emily E. Tynon

PHILIP E GRAVES

The ghost towns of the American West are both intriguing historical artifacts and reflections of unique economic forces at work. In this study we develop linked labor and housing market models balancing the wages, rents, and local amenities of isolated boomtown sites to better understand the sources of such communities’ dramatic cycles. High variance boom-towns provide a unique context for investment in housing and other foundational infrastructure, leading directly to the unusually transient local development patterns seen in ghost town settings. We use Colorado-based case studies to illustrate the relevance of the model. Comparisons with more modern rural settings in …


Non-Optimal Levels Of Suburbanization, Philip E. Graves Jan 2003

Non-Optimal Levels Of Suburbanization, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

Suburbanization has many causes, among which is the attempt to relocate to acquire a more desirable vector of local public goods. The traditional economists' procedure for valuing public goods involves vertical aggregation of marginal willingness to pay, at a given income level. This approach is flawed by failing to recognize that individuals will not work for goods that cannot be acquired individually with higher incomes. There will be a parallel input market failure any time there is a public good output market failure, thus the `given income' of the traditional valuation method is too low. Hence, traditional valuation methods result …


Amenities And The Labor Earnings Function, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton Jan 1999

Amenities And The Labor Earnings Function, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton

PHILIP E GRAVES

Desirable locations are, other things equal, expected to be characterized by a mix of higher rents or lower wages. That is, if one area is more attractive than others, inmigration would occur, driving up the demand for land (hence raising rents) and increasing the supply of labor (hence lowering wages). The in-movement will continue until utility is the same across locations in equilibrium. Failing to hold constant amenities in the traditional earnings functions employed by labor economists will result, then, in omitted-variable bias if worker characteristics (years of schooling, union membership, and so on) are correlated with amenities. By way …


Amenities And Fringe Benefits: Omitted Variable Bias, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton, Michelle M. Arthur Jan 1999

Amenities And Fringe Benefits: Omitted Variable Bias, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton, Michelle M. Arthur

PHILIP E GRAVES

If labor is fairly mobile, as it is in the United States, one would expect that households would move from less desirable areas toward more desirable areas until all areas are equally desirable. The way that areas become equally desirable is through the impact of movers on wages and rents (and possibly "endogenous" disamenities, such as congestion or pollution). That is, as people move to desirable areas, they will increase the demand for land (raising rents) and increase the supply of labor (lowering wages); in equilibrium, the wage and rent "compensation" for the niceness of an area reveals, in dollar …


Examining The Role Of Economic Opportunity And Amenities In Explaining Population Redistribution, Peter R. Mueser, Philip E. Graves Jan 1995

Examining The Role Of Economic Opportunity And Amenities In Explaining Population Redistribution, Peter R. Mueser, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

This paper develops a model of migration integrating equilibrium and disequilibrium components in which individuals and firms form rational expectations about future opportunities. Levels of migration are derived as functions of variations in factors influencing migrant labor demand ("economic opportunity") and migrant labor supply ("residential amenities"). The model is used to estimate the extent to which migration in the United States over the period 1950-1980 is determined by these two classes of exogenous factors.


The Role Of Equilibrium And Disequilibrium In Modeling Regional Growth And Decline: A Critical Reassessment, Philip E. Graves, Peter R. Mueser Jan 1993

The Role Of Equilibrium And Disequilibrium In Modeling Regional Growth And Decline: A Critical Reassessment, Philip E. Graves, Peter R. Mueser

PHILIP E GRAVES

The assumption of interregional equilibrium in migration research has recently been attacked. At issue is the motivation for on-going migration if rents and wages accurately compensate for spatial amenity variations; but if rents and wages fail to accurately compensate potential migrants, then amenity valuations must be flawed. We here show that arguments supporting substantial disequilibrium in the U.S. economy are unconvincing. The substantive issues are then clarified by a model which allows for both equilibrium and disequilibrium migration. We conclude that intertemporally systematic migration stems predominantly from equilibrium forces.


Multimarket Amenity Compensation And The Behavior Of The Elderly, Philip E. Graves, Donald M. Waldman Jan 1991

Multimarket Amenity Compensation And The Behavior Of The Elderly, Philip E. Graves, Donald M. Waldman

PHILIP E GRAVES

There is no abstract for this work.


On The Role Of Amenities In Models Of Migration And Regional Development, Philip E. Graves Jan 1989

On The Role Of Amenities In Models Of Migration And Regional Development, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

See manuscript for full abstract.


Development, Mobility And Slavery: Real Income And Spatial Equilibrium In The Postbellum South, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton Jan 1986

Development, Mobility And Slavery: Real Income And Spatial Equilibrium In The Postbellum South, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton

PHILIP E GRAVES

The paper lacks an abstract but provides additional insights into why blacks remained in the South for so long following the Emancipation Proclamation leading to the abolition of slavery in the United States.


Migration With A Composite Amenity: The Role Of Rents, Philip E. Graves Jan 1983

Migration With A Composite Amenity: The Role Of Rents, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

There is no abstract for this work.


Migration And Job Change: A Multinomial Logit Approach (Jue 1983), Peter D. Linneman, Philip E. Graves Jan 1983

Migration And Job Change: A Multinomial Logit Approach (Jue 1983), Peter D. Linneman, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

See paper for the full abstract.


Rural To Urban Migration: Population Distribution Patterns 19, Philip E. Graves Jan 1981

Rural To Urban Migration: Population Distribution Patterns 19, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

The abstract would be exactly the same as the introduction to the paper, and need not be repeated here.


A Life-Cycle Empirical Analysis Of Migration And Climate, By Race (Jue 1979), Philip E. Graves Jan 1979

A Life-Cycle Empirical Analysis Of Migration And Climate, By Race (Jue 1979), Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

There is no abstract for this work.


Household Migration: Theoretical And Empirical Results, Philip E. Graves, Peter D. Linneman Jan 1979

Household Migration: Theoretical And Empirical Results, Philip E. Graves, Peter D. Linneman

PHILIP E GRAVES

See article for detailed abstract.


Overurbanization And Its Relation To Economic Growth For Less Developed Countries, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton Jan 1979

Overurbanization And Its Relation To Economic Growth For Less Developed Countries, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton

PHILIP E GRAVES

This paper does not have an abstract but examines the role of urbanization and over-urbanization in economic growth and decline in the developing world.


The Urban Growth Question, Philip E. Graves Jan 1979

The Urban Growth Question, Philip E. Graves

PHILIP E GRAVES

City size is controversial...we present a paper that trades off the benefits and the costs of increased size. The issues are inevitably present.