Economic Policy Commons^™

Footing The Bill: An Empirical Look At The Correlation Between Campaign Contributions And Councilor Votes On Split Tax Rates In Massachusetts, Tristan Laliberte

Masters Theses

The current literature regarding the relationship between campaign contributions and roll call voting by elected officials has primarily focused on the congressional level. This study begins to fill the holes in this topic by utilizing city councilor contributions from likely business owners and their stance on tax classification in their respective communities. In this study, I examine contribution data from municipal officials in fourteen communities in Massachusetts as well as the expressed opinions made by city councilors in the 2018 tax classification hearings in order to test the theories that (1) there is a correlation between the actions of political …

Planning For Industrial Land And Industrial Jobs: An Evaluation Of New York City's Industrial Business Zone Program, Jennifer Davis

Masters Theses

In recent years, industrial preservation policies, which aim to preserve urban industrial activity and industrial employment often through the preservation of industrial land, have emerged as a flashpoint in cities across the country that have implemented these policies. While critics contend that industrial preservation policies amount to smokestack chasing in “post-industrial” cities like New York City, industrial preservationists argue that such policies help to preserve well-paying, middle-class jobs and thus represent a tool to mitigate rising income inequalities in cities. Despite considerable attention to these policies, minimal research has evaluated the effectiveness of industrial preservation policies as land use and …

Adolescents’ Soda Consumption In Mexico Before And After The Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax: Results From National Health And Nutrition Surveys, Estefania Martí Malvido

School of Public Policy Capstones

In 2014 Mexico implemented a national tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) as a public health strategy. Over the last decades, obesity has significantly increased among adolescents (12-19 years). In addition, the consumption of high-energy beverages among adolescents more than doubled from 1999 to 2006. The current study investigates the relationship between the SSBs tax and the caloric soda consumption in the Mexican adolescent population utilizing cross-sectional data from two nationally representative nutrition surveys. One from 2012 which took place before the tax was implemented and one conducted in 2016, two years after tax implementation.

Results show a positive association between …

The Government Role In Creating Innovation Technological Clusters In Developing Countries (The Case Of Saudi Arabia), Khalid Mahmoud Dashash

Doctoral Dissertations

Many governments around the world are committed to the idea of creating high-tech industries in their territories. Often they do so by imitating other well-recognized models such as the Silicon Valley. This dissertation investigated three countries economic development plans to understand how government policies could support or hinder the establishment of an Innovation Systems in developing countries. This dissertation claims that to create a successful high technological innovation cluster in any area, a successful innovation needs to be existed to support these clusters. This study used a comparative qualitative pragmatic method that implemented both case study and process tracing to …

Multi-Criteria Decision Making When Planning Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Routes In A Linear Corridor, Marie Louis

Doctoral Dissertations

In urban and suburban locations, public transit can be seen as an effective mode of daily transportation. The majority of the time, travelers would seek the cheapest, shortest, and possibly most eco-friendly means of transit. When designing public transit network systems, transportation planners and decision-makers, with input from stakeholders, should strive to optimize transportation services to meet the needs of the population most efficiently and at the lowest cost, that is, providing a transportation system that s the three E's of the sustainability concept: environment, social equity, and economic. Previous studies have focused on sustainability as the primary concern in …

A Study Of The Video Game Industry In U.S Metropolitan Areas Using Occupational Analysis, Hinlan Wong

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The video game industry is a billion dollar industry with an ever-growing fan base. Massachusetts, along with other states, has begun to take an interest in further developing this dynamic industry. A problem facing many policy makers and economic developers is accurately defining the video game industry, determining the types of workers that form of human capital within its workforce and where these businesses are located. This study helps to solve this problem by converting video game credits, found in all video games, into Standard Occupational Codes to identify the types of workers who comprise the industry and by conducting …

Evaluating Strategies To Create Successful Business Incubators In Massachusetts Gateway Cities, Sonya C. Smith

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis evaluates economic development, planning, public policy, and business strategies to create successful business incubators in Massachusetts’ post-industrial cities. These post-industrial cities in Massachusetts are dubbed “Gateway Cities” because they were once the economic engines of the region as well as areas of entry for many foreign-born residences to live and work. These cities have been recently plagued by high unemployment, poverty, and low business investment as many businesses, especially manufacturing, have located elsewhere. Legislation and policies involving redistribution of wealth to these Gateway Cities has recently been enacted to strengthen these communities. Although there currently isn’t a cohesive …

Evaluating Economic Development Programs Using Matched Employee‐Employer Data In A Quasi‐ Experimental Framework, Henry C. Renski

Henry C Renski

In the wake of shrinking public coffers, policy makers are demanding greater accountability from their economic development initiatives. In a discipline known for ‘claiming anything that falls,’ attempts to objectively evaluate economic development programs have been stymied by ill-suited data sources and methods. Survey research is expensive and responding firms have an incentive to lie about the effectiveness of subsidies. Publicly available data on employment, wages, and other outcomes are highly aggregated and lack the power to capture impacts from anything other than the most dramatic, large-scale initiatives. Confidential employee- and establishment-level (micro) data holds considerable promise for more rigorous …

Gill, Massachusetts: The Mariamante Parcel, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

In December of 2004, the small Massachusetts town of Gill took a tremendous step to influence its own future. A fifteen acre parcel of land in the south of town, near the intersection of two important town roads, had been put up for sale by its previous owners. The land had been under an agricultural preservation restriction, a program enabled by Massachusetts General Law Chapter 61 A. As part of this restriction, if the land were ever sold, the town would have right of first refusal.

The town's recent Community Development Plan has identified the parcel as a prime site …

Economic Development Plan Town Of Warren, Massachusetts, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This section of the Comprehensive Plan identifies economic development strategies within the framework of various development opportunities available to Warren given its current economic and geographical standing within the region. These economic development strategies strive to meet the needs and desires of the residents of Warren, Massachusetts based on their input and an analysis of local and regional economic trends and conditions. These potential economic strategies, intended to promote future economic growth, are in alignment with the Town’s core values and community goals.

Warren currently has two village centers, an active mill complex, significant open space, rivers and wetlands, and …

Town Of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan Appendix B Community Charrette Results, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This is Appendix B of the Town of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan. This Appendix contains the results of a Community Charrette in Billerica, Massachusetts that helped identify the desires of residents in the community.

Town Of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan Appendix C Community Survey Results, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This is Appendix C of the Town of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan. This Appendix contains a summarized report of the results of a community survey.

Town Of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

Billerica is a community rich in history and burgeoning with change. We come from colonial, agrarian roots, participated in the industrial revolution and enjoyed our day as a vacation destination. Billerica changed as the post war economy changed and became a haven for those, many from the city, seeking a close-knit community to raise families. We are now at the forefront of a high technology economy that has brought with it jobs, hotels and more change. As a community we struggle with our desire to preserve our historical character as a rural community and our realization that economic development is …

Town Of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan Appendix D, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This is an appendix for the Town of Billerica, Massachusetts Master Plan. This Appendix contains a community buildout analysis for Billerica.

Connecticut River Economic Adjustment Project, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The purpose of this study was to inventory various environmental and economic criteria for the region. In the second phase the data was analyzed for implications for development potential. In phase three the Net Available Land Analysis methodology will be allied on the town level to two towns that meet one or more of the three Economic Development Administration criteria. The region chosen was Enfield, Connecticut and Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy For Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The purpose of this report was to establish the goals and objectives that would guide the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. These goals and objects were the result of deliberations of the countywide CEDs Coordinating Committee.

Town Of Groveland, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report takes a look at Groveland, Massachusetts. Groveland is a small residential community that retains all of the characteristics of a friendly rural town in the setting of a convenient suburb. The town was incorporated in 1850, and changed gradually from an agricultural community to one that is almost wholly residential.

Moving Toward The Millennium With Open Space In Huntington, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report includes presentation and examination of community, environmental and conservation/recreation issues. The information is then analyzed according to the needs of the town and incorporated into recommendations for future action.

Chicopee River Watershed Study Chicopee, Massachusetts, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The goal of this studio is to provide our client with an assessment of conditions and attitudes within the Chicopee Watershed, which is located in Chicopee, Massachusetts. This information can then be used by the client in its effort to increase participation in watershed protection. To achieve this goal, the studio has set out four objectives. The first is to give an overview of land uses, social and economic trends in the watershed. The second is to review existing town regulations and compare them with model bylaws and regulations. The third is to gather opinions from the various people in …

Georgetown Planning Analysis And Alternatives Georgetown Master Plan Commitee, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report is a study that prepares and presents background reports and preliminary growth management scenarios for the town of Georgetown, Massachusetts for the Georgetown Master Plan Committee. Georgetown’s character is described in terms of historical, cultural, and natural resources.

Reuse Potential Industrial Mill Complexes For Springfield, Massachusetts, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report provided a cross-section of mill buildings in the Springfield, Massachusetts area. These are representative in terms of location, past and present use and surrounding activities. The analysis of the mill buildings provides an inventory of each site, and when taken together, give an overall picture of the existing condition and potential of mill buildings.

The Future Of Masonic Lodges, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The purpose of this report was to assess the effects of declining membership on Masonic Buildings throughout the Connecticut River Valley. The Masons are an international philanthropic fraternal organization which has over 31 lodges or groups which meet at 24 sites in our study area. In Massachusetts, Masonic membership has declined almost 30% in the last ten years.

Socio Economic Profile A Comparative Report Holliston, Massachusetts, Center For Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report contains a Socio Economic Profile for the Town of Holliston, Massachusetts. It includes profiles for population, housing, income, labor force, occupation, industry, and commuting.