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Articles 451 - 477 of 477

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Wavelet Analysis Of Commodity Price Behavior, Russell Davidson, Walter C. Labys, Jean-Baptiste Lesourd Jan 1997

Wavelet Analysis Of Commodity Price Behavior, Russell Davidson, Walter C. Labys, Jean-Baptiste Lesourd

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

We propose a form of semi-nonparametric regression based on wavelet analysis. Traditional time series methods usually involve either the time or the frequency domain, but wavelets can combine the information from both of these. While wavelet transforms are typically restricted to equally spaced observations an integer power of 2 in number, we show how to go beyond these constraints. We use our methods to construct ‘patios’ for 21 important international commodity price series. These graph the magnitude of the variations in the series at different time scales for various subperiods of the full sample.

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The Economic And Social Impacts Of Nimbys, Terance J. Rephann Jan 1997

The Economic And Social Impacts Of Nimbys, Terance J. Rephann

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This paper examines some of the issues and controversies that arise when facilities with perceived noxious environmental, social, and economic effects (NIMBYs) locate in communites. Five specific categories of NIMBYs are examined, including: (1) interstate highways, (2) large dams, (3) medium and maximum security prisons, (4) commercial nuclear power plants, and (5) gambling casinos. The paper uses quasi-experimental control group methods to assess the economic impacts of these facilities on U.S. counties during the period 1972-94. The paper shows that few actual negative effects can be attributed to NIMBYs. However, only interstate highways result in broad based effects that measurably …

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Testing For Spatial Error Autocorrelation In The Presence Of Endogenous Regressors, Luc Anselin, Harry H. Kelejian Jan 1997

Testing For Spatial Error Autocorrelation In The Presence Of Endogenous Regressors, Luc Anselin, Harry H. Kelejian

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This paper examines the properties of Moran's I test for spatial error autocorrelation when endogenous variables are included in the regression specification and estimation is carried out by means of instrumental variables procedures (such as two-stage least squares). The asymptotic distribution of the statistic is formally derived in a general model that encompasses endogeneity due to system feedbacks as well as spatial interaction (in the form of spatially lagged dependent variables). The small-sample performance of the test is assessed in a series of Monte Carlo simulation experiments, and the test is compared to a number of ad hoc approaches that …

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Regional Aspects Of Political Party Development In The United States: The Case Of Governors, 1789-1824, Anna Falkner Jan 1997

Regional Aspects Of Political Party Development In The United States: The Case Of Governors, 1789-1824, Anna Falkner

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The current political system is a compilation of the events of political party formation and transformation that have occurred over the last two hundred years. The following research focuses on the development of the first political system in the United States. The rivalry between the Federalists and Republicans led to the modern party system. The system developed in the 1790s, matured by 1800, and then declined by 1810s. This research focuses on governor political affiliations and makes observations about regional patterns. The research objectives are: identification of party affiliation, identification of method of election, and regional analysis of party strength …

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Estimating County Cost Of Living Indexes:The Issue Of Urban Versus Rural, Laura A. Blanciforti, Edit Kranner Jan 1997

Estimating County Cost Of Living Indexes:The Issue Of Urban Versus Rural, Laura A. Blanciforti, Edit Kranner

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This paper summarizes the outcome of a survey of cost of living/price index programs at the county level in the U.S. Additionally, it presents results of econometric analyses of price level data by counties for two states, Florida and Minnesota. Unlike previous studies that use a sample of urban counties and/or metropolitan areas, this analysis uses all units of the defined geographical area. It reviews the differences that occur from applying the same analytical methods to different data groupings, specifically, urban and rural counties. Finally, it points out issues that regional statisticians must consider when developing indexes for counties within …

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Socioeconomic Performance In Metropolitan And Nonmetropolitan Areas During The 1980s, F. Carson Mencken, Joachim Singelmann Jan 1997

Socioeconomic Performance In Metropolitan And Nonmetropolitan Areas During The 1980s, F. Carson Mencken, Joachim Singelmann

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The socioeconomic gap between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas increased during the 1980s. We test three competing explanations for this trend during the 1980s: overdependence on manufacturing, especially in nonmetro labor markets, the emergence of producer services as a catalyst of socioeconomic growth, and federal spending. Using a model that is informed by a variety of perspectives in sociology and economic geography, and commuter zones (CZs) as spatial units of analysis, we estimate the effects of manufacturing concentration, producer service concentration, and federal spending on per capita income, per capita earnings, and private nonfarm employment growth during the 1983-1988 business cycle …

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The Utopianism Of Children: An Empirical Study Of Children's Neighborhood Design Preferences, Emily Talen, Mary Coffindaffer Jan 1997

The Utopianism Of Children: An Empirical Study Of Children's Neighborhood Design Preferences, Emily Talen, Mary Coffindaffer

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Little is known about the environmental preferences of children. While planners have taught children about planning, relatively little academic research has been conducted on what children can teach the discipline about planning. This paper summarizes the results of a survey of the planning preferences of 248 children in kindergarten through second grade. The content analysis revealed a preference for land use variety and for places associated with activity and social interaction. Children tended to favor diversity and accessibility, as opposed to homogeneity and privacy. Further, the children's plans were different in terms of age and particularly in terms of gender. …

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A Spatial Analysis Of Southern Gubernatorial Elections: 1965-1997, Chuck Failing Iv Jan 1997

A Spatial Analysis Of Southern Gubernatorial Elections: 1965-1997, Chuck Failing Iv

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

For nearly a century the Democratic Party exerted an unmatched influence at all levels of government in the southern United States. This is particularly true in the eleven former Confederate states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. In turn, the policies and personalities of politicians and voters in the South played immense roles in shaping the national Democratic Party and national policies. This paper illustrates the dynamics of political change in the South at the gubernatorial level, and quantifies the magnitude of change over time with statistical analysis.

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A Kalman-Filter Approach To Estimating The Natural Rate Of Unemployment, Victor V. Claar Jan 1997

A Kalman-Filter Approach To Estimating The Natural Rate Of Unemployment, Victor V. Claar

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The terms “NAIRU” and “natural rate of unemployment” are not interchangeable. Further, while there is a consensus that the NAIRU represents an empirical macroeconomic relationship, little agreement exists regarding what is meant by the “natural rate of unemployment.” This paper estimates the natural rate of unemployment, defined here as the unemployment rate corresponding to equilibrium in the labor market. Rather than employ a Phillips curve, the model utilizes a macroeconomic-principles-level decomposition of the unemployment rate into its cyclical and noncyclical components. We then evaluate the estimated natural rate series by examining its relationship to structural variables from the labor market.

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Rao’S Score Test In Spatial Econometrics, Luc Anselin Jan 1997

Rao’S Score Test In Spatial Econometrics, Luc Anselin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Rao's score test provides an extremely useful framework for developing diagnostics against hypotheses that reflect cross-sectional or spatial correlation in regression models, a major focus of attention in spatial econometrics. In this paper, a review and assessment is presented of the application of Rao's score test against three broad classes of spatial alternatives: spatial autoregressive and moving average processes, spatial error components and direct representation models. A brief review is presented of the various forms and distinctive characteristics of RS tests against spatial processes. New tests are developed against the alternatives of spatial error components and direct representation models. It …

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Regional Economic Effects Of University Research: A Survey, Attila Varga Jan 1997

Regional Economic Effects Of University Research: A Survey, Attila Varga

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Previous research is classified into four broad categories in this paper: the study of a university’s impact on the location choice of high technology facilities, the investigation of university impact on the spatial distribution of high technology production, the analysis of the spatial pattern of industrial research and development activities, and the modeling of local knowledge transfers emanating from academic institutions. It is found that the university effect on the location choice of high technology facilities depends on certain area characteristics. There is a strong evidence in the literature of local academic technology transfers. Regarding the effect of university technology …

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Social Contacts And Job Searching: Does Gender Of Contact Matter?, F Carson Mencken Jan 1997

Social Contacts And Job Searching: Does Gender Of Contact Matter?, F Carson Mencken

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

In this study, I investigate how the gender of the social contact women use to find jobs affects the gender composition of the jobs that women find. Using a subsample of women in the Metropolitan Employer Worker Survey, I test two competing hypotheses about the effects of gender of social contact using multivariate logistic regression. Controlling for a range of individual, household, occupation/industry and organization variables, the analysis shows that females are significantly less likely to find female dominated jobs when they find their jobs through male contacts, compared to female contacts. Moreover, I also show that traditional measures of …

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The Effects Of Federal Spending On Earnings Change In Appalachia, F. Carson Mencken, James H. Noonan Jan 1997

The Effects Of Federal Spending On Earnings Change In Appalachia, F. Carson Mencken, James H. Noonan

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

In this paper we investigate the effects of federal spending on earnings change in Appalachian counties during the 1983-88 recovery and 1989-92 recession. Specifically, we explore the effects of federal spending from grants/research, procurement, salary/wages and defense. The analysis controls for key concepts in the human ecology and new urban sociology. The dependent variables are earnings change for each business cycle from a shift-share analysis, which decomposes county earnings change into that from nationally declining industries. The analysis shows that federal spending has no effect on earnings change, when it is considered as an aggregate measure. However, when federal spending …

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The National Role In Rural Economic Development:Some Empirical Evidence And Policy Implications, Andrew Isserman Jan 1997

The National Role In Rural Economic Development:Some Empirical Evidence And Policy Implications, Andrew Isserman

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

No abstract provided.

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Agricultural Transformation In Rural Western Kenya: The Maize Crop In The Mt. Elgon Region, 1930-1950, Jennifer L. Hoskinson Jan 1997

Agricultural Transformation In Rural Western Kenya: The Maize Crop In The Mt. Elgon Region, 1930-1950, Jennifer L. Hoskinson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Between 1930 and 1950 the Kenyan colonial government began an experiment with maize by attempting to introduce it as a major cash crop in the Mt. Elgon geographical region of Western Kenya. Part of a larger campaign concerning African agriculture in general, the colonial government pursued various policies aimed at raising the price of African-grown maize and improving its production. Just as these policies began to provide an atmosphere favorable to African maize export growth, however, the colonial government reversed several of these policies. Using the case of maize in the Mt. Elgon region, this research illustrates how the failure …

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Measuring The Public Realm: A Case Study, Emily Talen Jan 1997

Measuring The Public Realm: A Case Study, Emily Talen

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Urban planners are vitally interested in the role, meaning, and use of public space. The recent trend toward building neighborhoods and towns according to the doctrine of new urbanism - a movement which seeks to promote sense of community by adhering to certain principles about the physical arrangement of space - brings the debate about the use of public space and its effect on social life to the forefront. New urbanism stresses the need to resurrect a more civic focus in town planning principles via the provision of public space ( Kunstler, 1996 ; Hochstein, 1994), a view based on …

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Measuring Governors’ Effectiveness: A Control Group Study, Brad Keller Jan 1997

Measuring Governors’ Effectiveness: A Control Group Study, Brad Keller

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This research sought empirical evidence that the policies of celebrated governors of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Arkansas led to increases in employment in their state. The counties of those states were matched with counties from other states based on variables thought to affect economic growth. Differences between the matched pairs were then examined in seventeen major sectors. Little regional support was found for the conclusion that the policies stimulated the counties’ economies. The Pennsylvania counties lagged behind the match counties before the policies went into effect and continued to do so afterward. Massachusetts counties experienced relative growth in transportation and public …

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Distribution-Free Statistical Inferences For Testing Marginal Changes In Inequality Indices, Buhong Zheng, Brian Cushing Jan 1997

Distribution-Free Statistical Inferences For Testing Marginal Changes In Inequality Indices, Buhong Zheng, Brian Cushing

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This paper develops asymptotically distribution-free inference for testing inequality indices with dependent samples. It considers the interpolated Gini coefficient and the generalized entropy class, which includes several commonly used inequality indices. We first establish inference tests for changes in inequality indices with completely dependent samples (i.e., matched pairs) and then generalize the inference procedures to cases with partially dependent samples. The effects of sample dependency on standard errors of inequality changes are examined through simulation studies as well as through applications to the CPS and PSID data.

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Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis Linking Spacestat And Arcview, Luc Anselin, Shuming Bao Jan 1996

Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis Linking Spacestat And Arcview, Luc Anselin, Shuming Bao

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

No abstract provided.

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Industry Structure And Earnings Growth During National Business Cycles In Appalachia, F. Carson Mencken Jan 1996

Industry Structure And Earnings Growth During National Business Cycles In Appalachia, F. Carson Mencken

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Appalachia is a region that has undergone notable socio-economic change over the last twenty years. This change has produced communities of socio-economic “winners” and “losers.” In this paper, I attempt to understand why some communities 'won'and others 'lost'during this period using an analysis informed by two key sociological theories at the opposite end of the structure-agency continuum (new urban sociology, human ecology). The analysis combines shift-share analysis and the Land-Deane two-stage least squares technique for spatial effects to predict earnings change related to local industry mix and county effects for the following business cycles: 1980-82 recession, 1983-88 recovery, 1989-92 recession. …

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Local Economic Developers’ Preferences For Industrial Recruitment: A Contingent Valuation Approach, Beth Loy, Scott Loveridge Jan 1996

Local Economic Developers’ Preferences For Industrial Recruitment: A Contingent Valuation Approach, Beth Loy, Scott Loveridge

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Several arguments in the local economic development policy literature criticize practitioners for their continuing reliance on industrial recruitment, sometimes referred to as smokestack chasing. Why might practitioners rationally prefer this method over other available techniques? One theory is that practitioners face pressure to accomplish something within a short time frame, resulting in a high discount rate for economic development projects. A survey of local economic development practitioners using the contingent valuation technique supports the theory, finding that developers' discount rate is roughly 20%. The survey tests other theories as well.

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Is More Planning Better? An Exploration Of Planning Expenditure In Florida, Emily Talen Jan 1996

Is More Planning Better? An Exploration Of Planning Expenditure In Florida, Emily Talen

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Recently, planning theorists have stressed the need to understand more fully the realities of planning, fueled by the fact that the planning community has little empirical knowledge about its effects. There currently exist very few studies which attempt to quantitatively assess the broader socioeconomic corollaries of planning activity. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate one approach to understanding these corollaries by attempting to link planning activity (the "input") with various community or countrywide characteristics (the "output"). The paper uses exploratory data analysis to investigate the relationship between planning expenditure, as a measure of planning activity, and a variety …

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Interactive Techniques And Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis, Luc Anselin Jan 1996

Interactive Techniques And Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis, Luc Anselin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This chapter reviews the ideas behind interactive and exploratory spatial data analysis and their relation to GIS. Three important aspects are considered. First, an overview is presented of the principles behind interactive spatial data analysis, based on insights from the use of dynamic graphics in statistics and their extension to spatial data. This is followed by a review of spatialised exploratory data analysis (EDA) techniques, that is, ways in which a spatial representation can be given to standard EDA tools by associating them with particular locations or spatial subsets of the data. The third aspect covers the main ideas behind …

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Estimating Bank Lending Risk And Its Effect On Asset Allocation, David J. Sorenson Jan 1996

Estimating Bank Lending Risk And Its Effect On Asset Allocation, David J. Sorenson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The amount of risk that banks assume in lending is a key consideration in the amount of lending that banks ultimately will do. The relationship between default risk and lending levels is addressed here by deriving risk measures based on local economic industry mixes and locational characteristics of bank groups and then testing the degree to which differences in risk in local lending markets affect the asset allocation decisions of banks. FDIC call report data for West Virginia banks are combined with quarterly sectoral failure rate data and earnings data by sectors for the analysis.

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External Ownership And Bank Lending Behavior: Empirical Evidence Using Control Group Methods, Andrew Isserman, Kimberly Dinjar Mencken Jan 1996

External Ownership And Bank Lending Behavior: Empirical Evidence Using Control Group Methods, Andrew Isserman, Kimberly Dinjar Mencken

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

As banking systems have become more integrated on both the international and national scales, banks in peripheral regions have been purchased by larger banks headquartered outside those regions. These externally controlled banks allegedly siphon funds from the regions by taking deposits but curtailing their lending activity. Such a practice would retard regional economic development efforts by making it more difficult for local businesses and residents to obtain commercial and industrial loans.

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Estimating Interregional Price Indexes: Opportunities And Pitfalls, Laura A. Blanciforti Jan 1996

Estimating Interregional Price Indexes: Opportunities And Pitfalls, Laura A. Blanciforti

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Many economists recognize the importance of accounting for retail price variation when comparing standards of living between geographic areas. Such indexes are used to allocate education funds, for calculating income transfers, and in relocation decisions. Currently, public policy shows a trend toward giving states more control over the distribution of federal monies through block grant programs. However, many states do not have a system for measuring price variations and use the US CPI or an index for a major city within their state to estimate cost of living variation within a state. They do not account for the tastes and …

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The Green Thumb Program, Roger A. Lohmann Feb 1969

The Green Thumb Program, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The Green Thumb program was a prominent national feature of the rural “war on poverty” beginning in early 1966. A public works outdoor beautification program to employ low income older workers. It was modeled on the 1930s era Civilian Conservation Corps, and funded under contract to the National Farmers’ Union by the U.S. Labor Department. By the 1980s, when it was eclipsed by an experimental computer-based video text information delivery system for farmers of the same name Green Thumb had largely disappeared from public view. Today, a Google search with the phrase “Green Thumb program” turns up dozens of references …

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