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Between 1957 and 1990, nearly 100 nuclear reactors were constructed throughout the U.S., and nuclear power currently accounts for 20 percent of electricity production nationwide. Nuclear plants are often constructed in small communities for which they constitute a large source of employment and income. To date, 24 nuclear reactors have undergone decommissioning, and more are expected in the future, particularly as nuclear reactors age and face increasingly strict regulations. This paper examines the effects of nuclear decommissioning over time at the county-level on measures of employment, income, and population using difference-in-differences regression and propensity score matching. Panel data are obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau, and cover the years 1975-2014. The analysis finds that nuclear decommissioning is associated with positive and statistically significant increases in employment and per capita income over time. Results suggest that nuclear decommissioning may actually be a positive force in regional economic development, and concludes with limitations of the approach and implications for future research. As an emerging area of research, this paper is meant to build on previous work, as well as to provide a basis for further discussion and debate on the economic future of nuclear host communities and regional economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper looks at the linkages between three recent developments in spatial economics that in combination have changed the way that economic growth is viewed. These new approaches are that of the New Growth Theory, the measurement of geographical economic convergence, and the role of infrastructure in stimulating economic growth. In combination these developments may combine to provide a different perspective on why regions often grow at differential rates, ways of measuring these differences, and possible policy interventions to manipulate geographical variations in the growth process. The paper argues, however, that these concepts, while they may offer new insights, are nevertheless unlikely to provide a complete picture of why spatial economic divergence is widespread nor a set of policy instruments that can be simply deployed to ameliorate such discrepancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Policy makers and academics frequently emphasize a positive link between city size and economic growth. The empirical literature on the relationship, however, is scarce and uses rough indicators for the size of a country's cities, while ignoring factors that are increasingly considered to shape this relationship. In this paper, we employ a panel of 113 countries between 1980 and 2010 to explore whether 1) there are certain city sizes that are growth enhancing and 2) how additional factors highlighted in the literature impact the city size/growth relationship. The results suggest a nonlinear relationship which is dependent on the country's size. In contrast to the prevailing view that large cities are growth‐inducing, for a majority of countries relatively small cities of up to 3 million inhabitants are more conducive to economic growth. A large share of the urban population in cities of more than 10 million inhabitants is only growth promoting in countries with an urban population of 28.5 million and more. In addition, the relationship is highly context‐dependent: a high share of industries that benefit from agglomeration economies, a well‐developed urban infrastructure, and an adequate level of governance effectiveness allow countries to take advantage of agglomeration benefits from larger cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have identified factors statistically related to differences in state economic growth. These findings relate to regional policy because they appear to identify political options that could then be justified as improving growth. This paper evaluates the reliability of these studies as policy guides. It finds that most statistical conclusions are fragile and are therefore risky policy guides. Economic base theory performs well, and provides the most reliable state level policy options. These policies, however, have to be crafted carefully to avoid pitfalls associated with traditional (and perhaps unpopular) basic industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between casinos and economic growth in the U.S. Using county-level data on the 48 contiguous states from 2003 to 2012, we estimate the effect of casinos on per capita income growth and job creation. Our research procedures include examining the relationship using level-to-level panel data, and 3-year and 10-year differenced data. An instrumental variable approach is also considered to account for potential endogeneity of the casino variable. Although, the instruments are both relevant and exogenous, test results found insufficient evidence of endogeneity in our panel data models. In addition, we estimate a spatial error model (SEM) to account for the unobserved spatial characteristics that may affect economic growth in the counties but are not captured by our conventional econometric models. Our results show that casinos had a positive effect on per capita income; casino expansions exerted a small, positive effect on both per capita income growth and job growth. However, the effect of casino expansions on 10-year per capita income growth dissipated when we controlled for the spatial autocorrelation in our model. Nevertheless, the SEMs results also suggest that casino expansions continued to have a positive effect on the 2003-2012 job growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the role of universities in the economic development of American metropolitan regions during the Great Recession (2007-2009) and the growth period prior to it (2001-2007). It develops a supply-side conceptual framework on the role of universities in technology-led regional economic development. Specifically, this framework highlights three 'university products' that can be explicitly defined and measured: educational services, business services, and new knowledge or technology. The empirical test of this conceptual framework finds that the presence of universities is positively associated with regional economic performance during the Great Recession, mainly via the educational services product. Findings indicate that regions with a higher level of university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates are more resilient to the economic recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the current economic status of the areas surrounding major U.S. container ports. We define a “port district” as the geographic area within a 7.5-mile radius of a port. Our sample includes the 10 largest container ports in the U.S. We find that when we compare port districts to their surrounding metropolitan areas, household unemployment and poverty rates are significantly higher in port districts. Thus, the same ports that serve as “economic engines” for the region and nation may be the cause of economic decline and deterioration in the immediate areas that surround them. This presents a challenge for policy makers who want to preserve the benefits of international trade while facing increasing opposition to port expansion by local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the final demand-oriented export base paradigm dominates economic development theory and practice, its usefulness is increasingly questioned because of the changing structure of modern economies, empirical critiques of export-led growth strategies, and studies that decompose the actual sources of growth. The importance of service industries, especially local services and their role in inducing economic growth, requires a measure that includes both forward and backward linkages to empirically account for the complete role of an industry. Using data for New York State, we demonstrate how the input-output-based method of hypothetical extraction can more appropriately measure the economic linkage of a broader range of contemporary economic sectors (including services) than traditional, final demand-induced, backward-linkage multipliers. Our analysis provides empirical support for greater economic development attention to be directed toward local services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Shanghai strives to build itself into an international center of finance, trade, and commerce, a new retail economy has evolved accordingly. In the past two decades, its retail sector has been transformed from a simple and inefficient distribution system to a much more complex and highly competitive market-oriented economy. The new retail economy in many ways resembles the contemporary capitalist retail economy in the Western cities, but it also exhibits significant differences with Chinese characteristics. While the affluent consumer market is the necessary condition for sustained retail growth, it is the retail deregulation that has been the fundamental driving force for the structural changes in Shanghai's retail sector. Its liberal policies attracted major international retailers to either choose Shanghai as the gateway city to enter the China market, or locate their China headquarters offices in Shanghai to command their operations throughout the country. Indeed, the retail transformation in post-reform Shanghai is a clear testimony of the Economic Transition Model. The main data sources for this empirical study are the 1999 Census of Commercial Activity in Shanghai and the Shanghai Statistical Yearbook. They are supplemented by data collected from reputable Web sites and through field work in Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]