Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Fayette County, Wv Case Study: A Look At The Movement Towards Energy And Water Efficiency, Davina Bird, Hodjat Ghadimi, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The focal area for this study is Fayette County, West Virginia. Using a qualitative semi-structured interview process, information was gathered so as to present a clear overview of what both the private and public sector are doing with regard to energy and/or water efficiency within the county. Given the pervasive nature of the issue of efficiency, interviewees were encouraged to describe their agency or organizational efforts as it relates to what they thought “energy and/or water efficiency” entailed. On the basis of the twenty-one interviews conducted, the progress being undertaken by different entities was noted and divided under five themes …

A Spatial Analysis Of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program And Economic Conditions In The Appalachian Region, Nyakundi M. Michieka, Archana Pradhan, Tesfa Gebremedhin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps low income people and families buy food they need for good health. The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of changes in the economic conditions and welfare on SNAP participation in the Appalachian region. The study employs county level data to capture variation in SNAP participation. Spatial econometric models are developed to examine the relationship among the economic and business cycle conditions, changes in welfare reforms, demographic and household attributes, institutional factors, and SNAP participation. The findings from this study could be helpful in improving welfare programs in this region.

What Causes Waste Flows? An Interregional Analysis Of Welsh Waste Shipments, Christa D. Jensen, Stuart Mcintyre

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Much of the waste flow literature focuses on international waste trade and oftentimes solely on trade in hazardous wastes. However, data is often available for waste flows within national borders and these flows could yield just as much information on the relationships that exist between origins and destinations. In a world where waste creation, transport, and disposal is becoming a global problem, understanding and modeling these flows is becoming increasingly important. This paper uses a gravity model approach and data on commercial waste shipments between local authorities within Wales to examine the characteristics that are responsible for origin-destination waste flow …

Geography Of Business Incubator Formation In The United States, Junbo Yu, Mark Middleton, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The geography of business incubators has seldom been examined against the public aspirations and beliefs that incubators should either inhabit economically distressed areas to alleviate unemployment and poverty (in the case of empowerment business incubators) or proliferate in technologically capable regions to adequately unleash and exploit local high-technology potentials (in the case of technology business incubators). In this paper, the geographic distribution of 719 U.S. business incubators, which are located in 465 out of the 3,141 counties, is examined drawing upon a newly built incubator population database. In addition, the location factors underlying the formation of business incubators are also …

A Spatial Analysis Of Poverty And Income Inequality In The Appalachian Region, Sudiksha Joshi, Tesfa Gebremedhin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The Appalachian Region has made progress in the various measures of development but still lags behind other national counterparts. Understanding the relationship between poverty and income inequality is important to evaluate how a development strategy would benefit the region. This paper presents a spatial simultaneous equations approach to determine the relationship between poverty and income inequality. Cross sectional county level data from 1990 and 2000 for the 420 counties in the Appalachian Region are used to examine the determinants of poverty and income inequality. The empirical results suggest that poverty and income inequality are inversely related. If the policy objective …

Energy Consumption And Economic Growth: Evidence From Comesa Countries, Chali Nondo

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This study applies panel data techniques to investigate the long-run relationship between energy consumption and GDP for a panel of 19 African countries (COMESA) based on annual data for the period 1980-2005. In the first step, we examine the degree of integration between GDP and energy consumption and find that the variables are integrated of order one. In the second step, we investigate the long-run relationship between energy consumption and GDP; our results provide strong evidence that GDP and energy consumption move together in the long-run. In the third step, we estimate the long-run relationship and test for causality using …

Methodological Challenges And Institutional Barriers In The Use Of Experimental Method For The Evaluation Of Business Incubators: Lessons From The Us, Eu And China, Junbo Yu, Peter Nijkamp

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Despite their worldwide adoption by policy makers as the Holy Grail for entrepreneurship and business development, the effectiveness of business incubation programs remain elusive, primarily plagued by untenable evaluation methods. This paper develops an in-depth analysis on those methodological and institutional factors that prohibit the use of theoretically sound solutions such as the Experimental Method in evaluation practice.

Obesity Prevention: A Review Of The Interactions And Interventions, And Some Policy Implications, Anura Amarasinghe, Gerard D'Souza

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Obesity is reaching epidemic proportions especially in the developed and, more recently, in the developing world where the problem is compounded by myriad socio-economic, demographic, built and natural environmental factors. This review examines the possible causes, consequences and policy implications using a multilevel, multispectral framework. The causes of obesity clearly are multifaceted and involve numerous interactions. Together with economic incentives, allocation of physical and financial resources to community intervention strategies through educational programs as well as better land use planning would be helpful in promoting healthier and sustainable communities. Towards this goal, we proposed a dynamic and integrated Individual, Social, …

Sustainable Economic Development In Energy Rich Economies: A Regional Approach, Hodjat Ghadimi

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

There is an extensive literature on or relating to development issues of energy rich economies – particularly those in the developing world. While national-level studies abound, the analyses of these economies at a regional level or with a regional and spatial perspective are scarce. Generally, a bottom up regional approach to development and the value of insights that regional models and comparative regional studies provide have not received sufficient attention in the field of development economics. Analyzing development sustainability in energy rich economies at a regional scale may provide insights not otherwise possible. National scale studies and models are mostly …

Who Generates Hazardous Wastes? Attribution Of Producer And Consumer Responsibility Within The Us, Christa D. Jensen

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Amid changing attitudes about the environment and increasing sustainability concerns, many countries around the world aim to curb waste generation, especially the generation of hazardous wastes. Beginning in the late 1970’s and occurring increasingly since, governments and international bodies are passing legislation and treaties dealing with the reduction of hazardous waste generation and waste minimization in general. For future waste minimization policies to have an impact on hazardous waste generation, methods for determining where the ultimate responsibility for hazardous waste generation lies need to be explored. This paper examines hazardous waste generation in the United States at the industry level …

National And State Economic Impact Of Netl, Randall Jackson, Amanda Krugh, Brian Lashier, Ronald Munson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This report documents the development of state-level input-output models for Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Oregon and the augmentation of the national input-output model that was developed previously for the project Valuing Domestically Produced Natural Gas and Oil . The state IO models were developed to assess the FY08 economic impacts of expenditures, employment, and research and development awards at the NETL sites located in Pittsburgh, PA; Morgantown, WV; and Albany, OR. The national IO model was developed to assess the FY08 economic impacts of NETL site expenditures, awards, and employment at the national level.

An Empirical Analysis Of The Interactions Between Environmental Regulations And Economic Growth, Chali Nondo, Peter V. Schaeffer, Tesfa Gebremedhin, Jerald J. Fletcher

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between environmental regulation and economic growth. A four-equation regional growth model is used to analyze the simultaneous relationships among changes in population, employment, per capita income, and environmental regulations for the 410 counties in Appalachia. Our results reveal that initial conditions for environmental regulation are negatively related to regional growth factors of change in population, per capita income, and total employment. From this, we infer that the diversion of resources from production and investment activities to pollution abatement is inadvertently transmitted to other sectors of the economy—thereby resulting in a …

A Dynamic Shift Share Analysis Of Economic Growth In West Virginia, Janaranjana Herath, Tesfa Gebremedhin, Blessing M. Maumbe

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

A regional economy consists of industries with a variety of economic potentials. A growth or decline in any of these sectors affects the overall growth of the economy. Analysis of economic growth by sector of a particular region helps policy makers, community leaders and researchers in better decision making and problem solving. This study attempts to analyze the employment growth pattern and policy implications in the economic development of West Virginia using a dynamic shift share analysis. The study uses employment data for 38 years from 1970 to 2007 for the empirical analysis. Results indicate that agriculture, mining and manufacturing …

Toward The Geography Of Business Incubator Formation In The United States, Junbo Yu, Mark Middleton, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The geography of business incubators has seldom been examined against the public aspirations and beliefs that incubators should either inhabit economically distressed areas to alleviate unemployment and poverty (in the case of empowerment business incubators) or proliferate in technologically capable regions to adequately unleash and exploit local high-technology potentials (in the case of technology business incubators). In this paper, the geographic distribution of 719 U.S. business incubators, which are located in 465 out of the 3,141 counties, is examined drawing upon a newly built incubator population database. In addition, the location factors underlying the formation of business incubators are also …

Incubation Push Or Business Pull? Investigating The Geography Of Us Business Incubators, Haifeng Qian, Kingsley E. Haynes

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The primary purposes of this paper are to present the geographic distribution of US business incubators and to explore geographically bounded factors that influence the location of business incubators. Our data show that US business incubators are unevenly distributed across the urban/rural division, states, as well as counties. Factor analysis identifies three common factors from 27 demographic, social, and economic variables drawn from publicly available data at the county level. These factors include agglomeration, welfare, and business/entrepreneurship. The results of binominal logistic regressions suggest that incubators are more likely to be found in counties with high levels of agglomeration but …

Time Dynamics And The Introduction Of New Technologies Within Io Analysis, Christa D. Jensen, Randall Jackson

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Although Input-Output (IO) models are widely accepted tools for regional scientists and economists alike, there are still many issues to confront during their application, including estimating impacts relative to future years, dynamic impacts, and the introduction of new technologies within economic systems. Oftentimes, especially within energy and environmental subject areas, applications call for not only the introduction of new technologies but also for forecasts of economic impacts that may take years, or even decades, to fully implement. Despite the static nature of the IO modeling framework, these types of situations can be handled successfully and in ways fully consistent with …

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