Regional Economics Commons^™

Part 6: Regionalism And The Dillon Rule: An Interpretive Essay, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

While the Dillon Rule does not explicitly appear in many Virginia statutes, it is the accepted legal and legislative standard in Virginia. In essence, it says no city, town, county or region may exercise any power not explicitly granted it by the General Assembly. We argue that the Dillon Rule, while not without points in its favor, has outlived its usefulness.

Part 4: Seeing Things Through Different Lenses: The Opinions Of Blacks And Whites, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

This year’s Report surveyed more than 1,100 Hampton Roads residents, about half of whom were African American. African Americans see several issues differently than other citizens do. Notably, they have a different perspective on the role and effectiveness of the policy of affirmative action. African Americans also are much more likely to vote Democratic and attend church than the region’s other citizens. This is the first significant public-opinion poll ever taken of African Americans in Hampton Roads.

Part 7: Banking In Hampton Roads, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

The economic impact of the disappearance of the headquarters of large banks from the region, and from Virginia, has been quite negative. In this chapter we contrast Virginia and Hampton Roads to North Carolina, and demonstrate that the wave of banking mergers and consolidations that occurred over the past two decades, but particularly in the 1990s, has not been good for Hampton Roads.

Part 8: A Look At The Alternative: Private And Independent K-12 Schools, Regional Studies Institute, Old Dominion University

State of the Region Reports: Hampton Roads

Here we examine the nature of private and independent K-12 education in Hampton Roads. There is great diversity in private education in the region. Private institutions typically have lower average class sizes, but have fewer computers and offer lower teacher salaries than do public K-12 schools.

Reading Changes In Family Support Through Regional Development In China, Ge Lin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This article examines the degree to which the traditional family support system would be reshaped by the modernization and industrialization from a geo-developmental perspective. In particular, we examine the impact of rapid social changes and economic developments on family support for older parents in contemporary urban China to assess trends that might lead to a different path from the western style of old-age support purported by modernization theory. Based on the 1992 Survey on China’s Support Systems for the Elderly, the study divides the sample from three levels of economic development, which in turn, are used as proxies for developmental …

Socioeconomic Trends In Mining Dependent Counties In Appalachia, Melissa Latimer, F. Carson Mencken

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Dispositions For Lexicographic Preferences Of Evironmental Goods: Integrating Economics, Psychology, And Ethics, Randall S. Rosenberger, George L. Peterson, Andrea Clarke, Thomas C. Brown

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This paper combines the psychometric methods of paired comparisons and environmental disposition measurement to explain seemingly lexicographic behavior in choice experiments. A paired comparison experiment is developed that measures economic values using a choice set composed of public goods, private goods, and sums of money. The method provides a detailed map of each respondent’s stated preferences, among the choice set elements. Two treatments are used that differ only on the range of the dollar magnitudes – Treatment A ranges from$10 to $700. Treatment B ranges from $10 to $9,000. In either treatment, a proportion of the respondents potentially exhibit lexicographic …

Rationality, Decision Theories, And Thresholds: Implications For Environmental Valuation, Randall S. Rosenberger

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The purpose of this paper is to promote a discussion about different theories of rationality and models of individual decision making, as well as the role of thresholds in the valuation of environmental management and policy issues. The intent of this paper is to provide some conceptual distinctions between models and theories in order to develop experiments that empirically test one or more of the issues raised herein.

An Integrative Hierarchical Framework For Environmental Valuation: Value Pluralism, Thresholds, And Deliberation, Randall S. Rosenberger

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

When assessing people’s values for the natural environment, a variety of methodological approaches may be required. This is because value pluralism negates the ability to reduce the various kinds of values to a single conception of value or super-value. Environmental valuation endeavors are defined by the question to be answered. However, for some people, the methodology employed may conflict with their perception of the issue and what values are most important to them, i.e., the methods employed are not globally incentive compatible with all modes of expressing one’s values. Therefore, any single disciplinary approach to environmental valuation may ignore these …

Quality Of Life Satisfaction: A Comparative Survey Analysis Of The Eastern Panhandle And Southern West Virginia Counties, James O. Bukenya, Tesfa Gebremedhin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The main objective of this paper is to analyze and report quality of life survey responses from a random sample of over 1028 individuals from 21 counties in West Virginia. The survey responses are drawn from a quality of life survey conducted in 2000. Perhaps the most interesting observation from the responses was not that differences exist among counties but that, in all counties, the level of satisfaction was remarkably high (over 50%). Only small fractions of individuals were explicitly dissatisfied, surprisingly in counties with the highest growth levels in per capita incomes.

Comparing Three Spatial Cluster Tests From Rare To Common Spatial Events, Ge Lin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

In the past few years, several new tests for spatial clustering have been proposed. With ever increasing capability of GIS and wider availability of spatial statistic functions, spatial analysts are likely to face challenge of properly using these tests. Seemingly gaps also exist between the development of new tests and follow up evaluations against various assumptions. In this research note, I compare three cluster tests along a range of distribution from rare to common spatial events. The results not only revealed sensitive data feature that each test is designed to detect, but also clarified the interpretation based on the nature …

Environment And Trade: A Review Of Issues And Methods, Haixiao Huang, Walter C. Labys

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

This survey attempts to provide an overview of the major issues concerning economic interactions between environmental and trade policies. Such a review is necessary because of the pressure that the accelerated pace of globalisation is placing on environment and trade. Not only is world trade increasing rapidly but global industrialisation related to trade has spawned severe environmental degradation. As a consequence, growing numbers of researchers have attempted to analyse the linkages between these areas. This study attempts to provide a perspective on received and future research by employing a dual approach economic studies of the major environmental and trade issues …

Disability Legislation: An Empirical Analysis Of Employer Cost, Beth A. Loy, Tesfa Gebremedhin

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

As U.S. civil rights legislation, Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) was created to eliminate workplace discrimination on the basis of disability. Using the United States as an example, this research analyzes the potential for disability legislation to laden employers with excessive cost burdens, specifically expenses from additional workplace injuries and illnesses. In addition, this study looks at the likelihood that employers compensate for these costs by cutting workplace sick leave benefits. Prior to the ADA’s implementation, U.S. employers had the fear of incurring excessive cost. The paper successfully counters this fear by looking first …

Site Correspondence Effects In Benefit Transfers: A Meta-Analysis Transfer Function, Randall S. Rosenberger, Tim Phipps

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Several factors can affect the validity and reliability of benefit transfers. This paper proposes the existence of meta-valuation function and uses meta-regression analysis to estimate this function. The meta-valuation function controls for systematic effects of differences in sample and site characteristics on the magnitude of error associated with an experimental benefit transfer. Validity measures are derived through various specifications of multi-site and single-site travel cost demand models for hiking on a variety of trails in Colorado. The results show that some characteristics account for a large portion of error in the benefit transfer application. When the meta-regression analysis function is …

Growing The Economy Of Clay Country Through Industry Targeting: A Preliminary Analysis, David W. Hughes, Steven N. Zaricki

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Seasonality, Nonstationarity And The Structural Forecasting Of The Index Of Industrial Production, Eugene Kouassi, Walter C. Labys, François B. Aka

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

In this paper we focus on two ‘STS’ models suitable for forecasting the index of industrial production. The first model requires that the index be transformed with a first and seasonal difference filters. The second model considers the index in its second difference filter, while seasonality is modeled with a constant and seasonal dummy variables. Tests designed to discriminate empirically between these two models are also conducted. Our results prefer the performance of the second model, particularly when the conventional ML estimation procedure is replaced by the ALS procedure. This process together with appropriate seasonal adjustment advances the possibility of …

Heterogeneity And Chaotic Dynamics Incommodity Markets, Catherine Kyrtsou, Walter Labys, Michael Terraza

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

The nonlinear testing and modeling of economic and financial time series has increased substantially in recent years, enabling us to better understand market and price behavior, risk and the formation of expectations. Such tests have also been applied to commodity market behavior, providing evidence of heteroskedasticity, chaos, long memory, cyclicity, etc. More recently the evaluation of empirical financial models suggests that chaotic structure in asset prices can result from the heterogeneity of trader’s expectations. The present evaluation of futures price behavior confirms that the resulting price movements can be random, suggesting noisy chaotic behavior. The root cause of this behavior …

The Regional Public-Private Civic Infrastructure Of Hampton Roads And Its Impact On The Implementation Of Economic Development Initiatives, James Andrew Probsdorfer

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study analyzes the effectiveness of a network of five regional organizations to promote economic development in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Using a case study methodology, data collected from organizational documents, media reports, and personal interviews was categorized and triangulated to determine how many regional economic proposals were implemented from 1990 to 2000. This analysis created a regional timeline from which was produced a regional inventory of economic proposals. This study concluded that the regional economic development organizations in Hampton Roads have a fragmented network and their output has been influenced by regional factors.

Specifically out of a total of nineteen …