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Abstract: The goal of this paper is to examine whether the volatility of the growth in the US oil stocks has changed overtime, and if it has then whether or not this change is real. We find that the growth in volatility of oil stocks has declined overtime. We conduct a Monte Carlo simulation exercise to investigate whether this decline is real or an artefact of the growth definition. Our findings support the fact that the decline in growth volatility of oil stocks is an artefact of the growth definition. This is because a data generating process having a unit root with drift has a tendency to grow and thereby pulls the variance of growth down with time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The question of high welfare re-entry rates has attracted great attention from economists and policymakers. Using a very rich administrative data set for the minimum income program of the Madrid Government (over 50,000 spells), this paper aims to broach various questions arising from the issue of welfare re-entry. We try to identify what factors determine observed differences in the durations of the first off-welfare spell. We analyze the combined effects of the length and type of exit of the first spell, unemployment, and sociodemographic characteristics. The experience of the first spell and, to a lesser extent, employability can contribute toward lengthening the time spent outside the program. Our results also show that off-welfare spells of households leaving the program in periods of low economic growth will be longer than those that do so during economic expansions. With the exception of unemployment effects, our estimates yield very similar results to those obtained in the U.S. studies, suggesting that U.S. welfare policies and analyses are not entirely irrelevant for European discussions of welfare policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper examines the macroeconomic effects of social diversity in the United States. Employing a cross-sectional dataset for 48 states, we find mixed empirical evidence for the impact of diversity on Gross State Product (GSP) per capita growth: racial diversity reduces GSP growth, while linguistic diversity raises GSP growth. Our findings suggest that because English is used frequently by non-native speakers barriers to communications based on race are more pronounced and enduring than those based on linguistic differences. The results provide a justification for establishing ‘weak ties’ across diverse racial groups as a means to enhance economic performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the sector of information and communication technologies (ICT), whether in the USA, Japan, or Europe, innovative services are already in use, based on large-scale space-based infrastructure investments. Such systems are e.g. earth observation, telecommunication, and navigation, timing and positioning satellites. In combination with the advent of powerful handheld terminals and the demand for ubiquitous services, it is expected that info-mobility applications will reveal new sources of business in the years ahead, using in particular the Earth observation and future GALILEO systems to position any feature or user anywhere in the world within a few meter accuracy. Hence, satellite-based capabilities provide new and unique opportunities for economic stimulation and development. Many incubators and innovation centers in Europe have already grasped this growth potential. Yet, for many European players business growth appears below expectations compared to developments in the USA following the launch of GPS (Global Positioning System). Europe still has to overcome intrinsic barriers to seize these new business opportunities faster and with more visible economic impact by leveraging on SMEs and regional innovation centers to expand the commercial utilization of satellite capabilities and mobilization of appropriate financial resources. The paper elaborates on the INVESat project (funded by the EuropeInnova—European Commission), which aims at bridging the gap between Innovative enterprises and financial InVEstors in the emerging markets of SaTellite applications. The critical success factors required to stimulate and support more efficiently investments in this bread of innovative services will also be highlighted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the last two centuries, the reallocation of labor out of agriculture has been a dominant feature of structural change and economic growth in the United States. This paper uses an accounting framework founded in economic theory to decompose this reallocation into three components: a demand-side effect due to the low income elasticity of demand for agricultural goods (Engel effect), and two supply-side effects, one due to differential sectoral productivity growth rates (Baumol effect), and the other to differential capital deepening. The results show that the Engel effect accounts for almost all labor reallocation until the 1950s, after which the Baumol effect becomes a key determinant. Our framework provides a unified account of long-run structural change, and demonstrates that historical interpretations and theoretical models that emphasize only one dimension of this process cannot properly account for the dramatic history of labor reallocation in the United States. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite increased efficiency in the use of natural resources, the use of these resources continues to increase in most societies. This paper examines the discrepancy between the potential decrease of use of natural resources, as an effect of increased efficiency, and actual use. During the period 1960–2002, this difference was found to grow faster in the USA than the mean for six West European countries. Possible reasons for this difference between the two regions are analysed. To reduce the anthropogenic flows of energy and material, and the consequent deleterious effects on the biosphere, it will become necessary to adapt consumption to degree of efficiency in the use of natural resources. Based on the comparison between the two regions, some economic aspects of this issue are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents evidence of a non-linear relationship between real GDP growth and oil price changes for the US economy. We also argue that this non-linearity is not merely due to the use of data from the mid-1980s onwards, as most authors, so far, seem to believe. In fact, we find the existence of non-linearity with the use of data earlier than 1984, and even before 1977. Furthermore, we question that the non-linear transformations of oil prices proposed in the literature are the most appropriate ones for reflecting such non-linearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China is seen by some observers as a precursor of inevitable hegemonic competition in East Asia. At the very least, it seems likely that China's influence in East Asia will grow at the expense of the United States. Whether this will eventually amount to a form of hegemonic transition is far less clear. It is, therefore, an opportune moment to consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of China and the US in East Asia. This paper suggests that the nature of hegemonic competition and transition is more uncertain and complex than some of the most influential theoretical understandings of hegemony would have us believe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The papers included in this symposium provide a compelling rationale for the role of health as an engine of economic growth, and thus for investing in health improvement as an important step in improving economic growth in the Mississippi Delta. This newer model of the relation between health and wealth, positioning health as an investment and as an important determinant of economic growth, has substantial implications for health-related public policy and for the business sector. Societal support of health promoting initiatives through public policy, especially for children and for the poor, are important efforts for improving health and for realizing the economic benefits of health improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Doha Round negotiations at the World Trade Organization have come to a halt. The vast majority of analyses of the (at least temporary) demise of the Doha Round have focused on the lack of the United States and the European Union to reach consensus on the agricultural proposals that were tabled during the round. Relatively little attention has focused on explaining the rationale for why a large part of the developing world would not agree to proposals on the table as well. Many developing country negotiators claim that the potential benefits of the Doha Round were relatively small while the potential costs in terms of a loss of sovereignty to deploy effective development policies were significant. This paper argues that developing countries took a respite from the negotiations because the possible gains from market access were not large enough to trade for giving up domestic policy space for development policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London which involved disturbances around the country. The paper also explores how best to think about Susette Kelo once the initial reactions subsides. The Court invited states and localities to consider carefully the benefits and burdens of using eminent domain for economic development. The Court's ruling that the scope of public use is coextensive with the police power has rejected the argument that private benefits generated by a condemnation render it constitutionally suspect.

This paper examines the effects of trade liberalization and the risks associated with participation in the global trading system on women’s integration into national labor markets. Using data from 1970 to 1995, I identify two global determinants of the female share of national labor markets: trade openness and transnational corporate penetration. Several local predictors of women’s labor force participation are also identified. While a cross-sectional analysis indicates that women have been pulled into national labor markets as a result of neo-liberal economic reforms, more dynamic models show that these same forces can also lead to a preference for male, rather than female labor. Moreover, the analyses specify that the effects of trade openness and trade risk on female labor force participation are determined by position in the world-system and region. These results illustrate that arguments about the relationship between globalization and the feminization of the labor force, are too simplistic and neglect to account for the diverse consequences of global economic expansion on gender relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Industrialization and urbanization are seen as interdependent processes of modern economic development. However, the exact nature of their causal relationship is still open to considerable debate. This paper uses firm-level data from the manuscripts of the decennial censuses between 1850 and 1880 to examine whether the adoption of the steam engine as the primary power source by manufacturers during industrialization contributed to urbanization. While the data indicate that steam-powered firms were more likely to locate in urban areas than water-powered firms, the adoption of the steam engine did not contribute substantially to urbanization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the recent history of State-level policies in the United States for knowledge-based economic development, and identifies an emerging model based on technology creation. This new model goes beyond traditional investments in technology transfer and prioritizes cutting-edge scientific research in economically relevant fields. As research-intensive universities are indispensable for technology creation, these policies have yielded substantial new investments in university science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships among various subsets of economic development, poverty, crime, and/or income inequality have been separately investigated in several theoretical and empirical studies. However, there has been very little empirical analysis on the interdependence among all these variables in one framework. This paper examines the causality between economic development and poverty while incorporating crime and inequality. It employs a co-integration test, a 4-variable vector autoregressive (VAR) model, and a Granger test in the US over the period 1959–2001. Findings reveal a feedback loop mechanism between economic development, poverty, and crime. Interestingly, income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient has no important impact on any of the variables. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The telecommunication industry has experienced significant growth and consolidation in the last decade. The desire of large, multinational customers to obtain fully-integrated, end-to-end global telecommunications services from a single source pushed telecom firms to offer multiservice broadband and seamless worldwide telecommunications networks. However, a major barrier to achieving this goal is the significant capital required to construct and deploy a global network. To overcome these constraints, telecom companies typically adopt approaches like--mergers and acquisitions (M&A), joint ventures, legal partnerships and strategic alliances. As the marketplace continues to grow globally, convergence among major enforcement authorities on fundamental competition principles, such as the role of efficiencies, will be critical. The treatment of efficiencies is however controversial and poses many questions. This research paper explores some of the efficiencies-based motivations and rationales for Telecom M&A. It reviews the procedures and regulatory authorities responsible for telecom merger review in the U.S., Europe and Canada. It also examines the treatment of efficiencies in the context of merger review in three jurisdictions and finally it discusses some of the outstanding policy issues related to treatment of efficiencies.

This paper examines whether the late 1990s IT-related growth has led to a corresponding growth in wage inequality. This is of interest because observers, including Alan Greenspan, have suggested that the "new economy" boom caused growing wage inequality and even job insecurity. The late 1990s also provide insights regarding the claim that technological change generated the wage inequalities of the 1980s. We conclude that overall wage inequality, skill differentials, and within-group wage inequality did not grow in the IT-led new economy boom. So, inequality is not the "price" of technology-led growth. There are numerous reasons to be sceptical about a technology explanation of wage inequality. There is no evidence that technology affects the inequality among workers of similar experience and education, a dimension that accounts for 55 percent of the growth of inequality. Nor is there evidence that technology has had a larger impact in the 1990s or 1980s than in earlier periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States has recently enjoyed faster economic growth than any other large industrialized country. The US also has the highest level of inequality among the G7 countries and has seen inequality increase faster than most other industrialized nations. The combination of rapid American economic growth and high and rising US inequality raises a question: Has rising inequality contributed to rapid US economic growth? This paper reviews modem theories linking inequality and economic growth and concludes that a relatively old theory suggested by Arthur Okun probably accounts for the recent combination of US growth and inequality. The country imposes fewer restrictions on economic agents and provides less help to people in distress. It makes fewer sacrifices in efficiency to achieve economic equality. Okun's theory has little difficulty explaining why these distinctive policies are associated with faster employment growth and higher average hours of work than are observed in other wealthy countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship of law to economic development in Colonial New England. Effects of currency scarcity on markets and the law; Public paper money issuance and its effect on litigation patterns; Currency policies in Massachusetts from 1710 to 1750.

This paper comments on the work of Rector et al. (1999a, 1999b). The poverty lines implicit in their restrictive material deprivation approach are disputed and the claim that America has triumphed over poverty is rejected. Evidence is presented showing that poverty among the poorest Americans has significantly increased and is now near an all time high. The long economic expansion since the recession of 1990-1991 has left hardcore poverty essentially unchanged and relative deprivation among the poorest of the poor has increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Local governments in the United States have adopted a wide variety of policies to stimulate their local economies, but there is still debate over the effectiveness of such efforts. This paper examines the relationship between local development policies and changes in the number of jobs in both the manufacturing and service sectors during the mid-1980s. Methods. Data cover almost 900 cities and are based on Census Bureau sources and a 1984 International City Management Association survey of local governments. A two-stage least squares regression analysis is used. Results. The findings indicate that policy adoption had a limited effect on employment change from 1982 to 1987. For both manufacturing and service employment, market factors had the strongest effect on employment growth. Conclusions. The findings suggest that local economic development policies had a limited influence on changes in the number of jobs in cities during the economic recovery of the 1980s. Local investment in infrastructure and education, however, may enhance employment growth in both the manufacturing and service sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the American states have begun to adopt new types of economic development policies, variously called "demand side" policies, industrial policy, or interventionist policy. In this paper the authors discuss the emergence of these policies and the political and economic changes in states which led to their consideration. Two explanations for their adoption are developed--the business capture hypothesis and the meso-corporatist hypothesis. These differing interpretations are tested with data on state interest groups, government capacity, and economic stress. Data on policy adoptions by 1986 show that the meso-corporatist model provides a better account of industrial policy than does the business capture hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests "growth machine" propositions about the attitudes toward growth of different local elite groups. The findings support "growth machine" conceptions in part--there is wide elite approbation of growth--but further analysis reveals that different elite groups have different conceptions of growth and of the role of the public and private sector in controlling it. Most notably, the local political elite sees growth as a privately driven phenomenon, and this perception among local political leaders is associated with a tendency to denigrate local government's power to respond to policy problems aggravated by growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper notes that indicators of intermetropolitan migration and the rise of the sunbelt were evident in the U.S. as early as 1940. The demographic and economic trends that are part and parcel of the phenomenon euphemistically termed the rise of the sunbelt and the decline of the Northeast have recently become a dominant domestic policy concern. Unfortunately, this sudden emphasis on the issue of interregional growth and decline and the lavish praise bestowed upon the supposedly trouble-free sunbelt are both surprising and unwarranted for several reasons. First, the patterns of disparate population and economic growth were evident as far back as the 1940s and thus are not indicative of a new phenomenon. In addition, the sunbelt is hardly the crisis-free region it is portrayed as by its most ardent supporters. In order to place the rise of the sunbelt in a perspective that is unencumbered by the false mystique that now engulfs the region, two facets of this phenomenon are examined: first, the historical patterns and components of the population flows that have contributed to the recent trends of divergent metropolitan development; and, second, some of the potential problems and fundamental contradictions inherent in both the continuation and cessation of this massive population influx.

This paper examines the “connection”between higher education and economic development in Massachusetts, a state whose renowned academic institutions have fueled the rise of a premier high technology industrial district. But in the aftermath to the abrupt demise of the “Massachusetts Miracle”, the state higher education system sought to develop a new mandate for public service in the 90s keyed to upgrading the state‘s industrial base and coordinating with labor market needs. These growing involvements in manifestly vocational endeavors seem to reflect a major shift in the models that articulate the higher education-economic development “connection” in Massachusetts. Thus, it appears that the elite model of the “world-class” research university sparking numerous industry spin-offs has been joined by newer diffusion-oriented models of academic outreach that extend out from the community colleges into the workplace and even into the K-12 schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strongest empirical evidence of dependency has been the finding of an increasingly negative effect of extensive foreign capital penetration on the subsequent economic growth of the host. This long-run structural effect of foreign direct investment is based on cross-national comparisons over the period 1960-75, with samples of up to ninety-one countries. To date, the structural effect has not been replicated for rich (core) country samples. We suggest that the failure of researchers to substantiate the dependency effects in the core hinges on two problems: I) the need to identify "mature economic dependency" as a variation in the structure of core economic development, and 2; the need to model mature dependency with longitudinal rather than cross-national research designs. In this paper, we use time series data to illustrate the long-term negative effects of Amen can direct investment on post-World War!! economic growth in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether military expenditure, health, and education are strange bed-fellows, antagonists, or complementary to modernization, economic development and the physical quality of life are the major questions addressed in this paper. Fundamental military roles in underdeveloped countries are discussed; and empirical cross-national analyses of aggregate data from the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA), the World Bank, and world political and social indicators, are used to test competing hypotheses. Educational expenditures as related to human capital formation and the percentage of labor force in industry are found to be the best allies in predicting economic development. Other findings indicate that military expenditures are adversarial (or antagonistic) to health and the physical quality of life. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a historically contingent understanding of patterns of uneven economic development in the U.S. South. We conceptualize spatial variation in economic development and its consequences for inequality to be embedded in both local and international dynamics. The character of local economic development, it is argued, reflects the organizational base and heterogeneity of local elites, the divisions and relative power of nonelites, and the embeddedness of the local political economy in national and world systems of politics and production. These ideas are developed and made historically and spatially specific through an analysis of uneven development in one Southern state, North Carolina. Our findings suggest that contemporary patterns of uneven development and the resulting income deprivations and inequality reflect conditional interactions between elite economic projects and racial divisions within the working class. We find that outside investment seems to reproduce rather than disrupt local patterns of inequality and poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper that offers an alternative explanation for the purported inability to make better use of the expanded productive capability which provides the base for an "affluent" life style. It is suggested that inability to understand the ethical questions raised by a high rate of economic growth and failure to make the institutional adjustments that would humanize the contemporary economic process derive in part from neglected but critical developments in economic thought and social philosophy. Now according to those who are critical of the life style of affluent America, it is obvious that economic activity as carried out in contemporary society does not achieve that ideal terminus which, according to the philosophic presuppositions of classical economics, ought to be the end result of such activity. As a matter of historical fact, the economy seems to have been forced into a developmental path which permits economic activity to escape its proper subordination to the "good life" of man. Theologically, one might argue that this tendency for economic activity to degenerate into a process which degrades man is but part of that tragic train of events which entered human history as the consequence of sin.

This article comments on some of the conclusions drawn by Riley E. Baker in respect to significant causative factors in the economic development of the Great Plains area. The economy of, and the techniques employed within, an area are a part of the aggregate economy, not isolated from it. This situation derives largely from the composite of technological developments associated with improved transportation and increased tendencies toward both individual producer and area specialization. The network of interrelationships is not an easy one to explain. Nevertheless, this difficulty does not warrant simplification merely for ease of explanation. Some passages in Baker's paper explicitly, and others by implication, indicate that he leans toward undue simplification, intentional or otherwise. There has appeared a tendency in recent years to interpret the implications of a vastly expanding technological front in terms of the impacts of a few selected techniques lifted from their functional relationships within the integrated whole. This tendency is probably the inevitable result of preliminary observations of the influences of wide technological advances upon the entire structure of an economy.

This study evaluates the relationship between the spatial distribution of broadband providers and the presence of knowledge intensive firm clusters in US counties. Results highlight this relationship is heterogeneous and localized. In some places, broadband appears to be an essential link that enables knowledge firms to strategically locate in lower cost counties and in close proximity to major knowledge centres. In other places, the availability of broadband Internet connections are unable the negative externalities associated with locations in more remote areas of the country. From a policy perspective, this suggests that broadband should be viewed as a key component, but not the only component, of comprehensive local economic development plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper seeks to pilot test a novel way to collect freight and service activity data and analyze the collected data in the metropolitan area of Medellin, Colombia.Methods: This research collects data using a multi-layer and multi-actor approach that includes surveys to receivers, suppliers, carriers, and truck drivers. The data are used by the authors to describe the overall freight patterns in the area of study and to show lessons learned.Results: The data collection resulted in 2947 establishments (4.4% of the total establishments in the city), a cordon survey of 2950 commercial vehicles (17% of the total vehicle volume) accessing the urban area, and carrier interviews to ten companies and 130 truck drivers. The results indicate that a total of 33,274 metric tons/day enter the study area, 35,240 tons/day leave the area; while 7000 tons/day are distributed in the study area. In terms of freight trips, 6600 trips/day enter the study zone and 6600 trips/day leave it.Conclusions: The data collection effort enabled the analyses of freight generation patterns. The freight surveys used in the study complement each other, and provided a good depiction of the freight movements in urban areas. It was found that in the Medellin Metropolitan Area, freight-intensive sector establishments generates, on average, significantly more cargo (freight attraction plus production) than the service-intensive sectors. The analyses of the surveys allow the decision makers to understand the nature of the cargo and the generation patterns in different type of establishments. This characterization of the freight patterns is vital for the forecasting of the behavior of the cargo and it is the main input to perform freight demand modeling for city planning, especially for developing countries, where there are too many budget constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new economic geography (NEG) has become a mainstay of regional science in the last two decades, as signified by the awarding of Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize. Yet, most American regional scientists and urban/regional economists do not use NEG in determining regional growth patterns. Instead, they rely on factors such as natural amenity migration, whose roots lie back to the work of Philip Graves in the mid 1970s. Conversely, two of the world's leading economic geographers – Allen Scott and Michael Storper – have strongly argued that job availability not household amenities have determined US regional dynamics. Given the disparity of views over the largest developed economy in the world, we hold a competition to determine which of these leading contenders accurately predict US interregional growth dynamics over the last 40–60 years. The runaway winner of the duel is natural amenity led growth with the crown going to Graves. Implications are drawn for both empirical research and EU economic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the possibility that the rise of the skilled city is the result of a correlation between local skills and other urban characteristics. Impact of local skills on subsequent city growth; Connection between the number of colleges per capita in 1940 and growth between 1970 and 200; Examination of the timing of skills and growth.

Urban sprawl has evolved into an exceptionally complex public policy problem in the United States over the course of recent decades. One factor that has made it particularly difficult to deal with is its relationship to the fragmented structure of the American system of land use governance. Acting on behalf of their residents, local governments enact land use regulations to secure lifestyle preferences for low density, suburban living environments while at the same time ensuring a high quality of public service provision. This article examines the effect of this process on metropolitan spatial structure through a series of econometric models designed to test the following hypothesis: that fragmentation promotes sprawl by increasing the proportion of growth that occurs at the unincorporated urban fringe. The estimation results reveal substantive evidence that municipal fragmentation and several related factors - including special districts, infrastructure investments, and white flight processes - have a significant and enduring effect on the growth of outlying areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]