Using Dummy Variables to Estimate Economic Base Multipliers

Economic base analysis is a cost-effective and accurate means of predicting employment impacts in relatively small and uncomplicated regional (community) economies. Extending previous research using the Arizona Community Data Set, this paper estimates economic base multipliers in different types of communities by introducing dummy variables into regression equations. Total employment, transfer payments, and population potential are used as explanatory variables. Manufacturing centers are shown to have larger multipliers than diversified places, mining settlements, service and trade communities, and utility towns.     

SECTORAL-LEVEL EMPLOYMENT MULTIPLIERS IN SMALL URBAN SETTLEMENTS: A COMPARISON OF FIVE MODELS

The Arizona Community Data Set is used to analyze intersectoral employment relationships in relatively small urban settlements. Estimates of sectoral-level nonbasic employment and economic base (impact) multipliers are given for various functional types of economies. Furthermore, these multiplier effects are disaggregated into sectoral components to establish how locally oriented employment variously responds to a shift in the economic base. All statistical estimates are directly based on survey-generated data and do not suffer from the various misspecifications that invariably plague estimates based on indirect methods.     

GEOGRAPHERS IN GOVERNMENT

Geographers are working in federal, state, and local government agencies in many diverse positions. Historically and presently, geographers have held key policy positions in government agencies. In recent years the employment base for geographers in government has been broadened. Geographers working in government generally must have a pragmattic outlook that enables them to do the tasks assigned regardless of how geographical those assignments may be.     

A Review of “Politics and Practice in Economic Geography”

Abstract

This study examines the spatial distribution and enforcement of air polluting facilities in the state of New Jersey, as listed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Aerometric Information Retrieval System. Results show that air-polluting facilities tend to concentrate near minority neighborhoods, although this relationship is partially explained by factors of population density, manufacturing employment, and land use. Other results suggest that facilities in areas with a relatively high percentage of minority population tend to have a weaker record of environmental enforcement as compared to other facilities. Of the socioeconomic variables considered, employment in manufacturing appears to be the most strongly related to environmental enforcement.     

PATRIMONY OF THE SEA AND FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA

Data from transportation studies are used to examine changes in accessibility to employment opportunities in the Milwaukee urban area from 1927 to 1963. Low-status areas of the city tended to experience the greatest decreases in employment accessibility compared with other parts of the urban area. Furthermore, increasing levels of employment accessibility were associated with greater amounts of new housing, whereas decreases in housing vacancies and population occured in areas with declining accessibility to employment.     

Differential Adoption of Internet-based Teaching Practices in College Geography

Abstract

Innovation diffusion research has shown that users of innovations have identifiable characteristics that can be used to differentiate them from nonusers. This research classifies practitioners of Internet-based teaching in college geography and relates adoption patterns to faculty members' research specialty, place of employment, teaching experience, and academic rank. All variables except academic rank were related to faculty members' adoption of and approach to Internet-based teaching. The results of the study provide insight into how the Internet is being used to teach geography in higher education.     

National and Community Market Contributions of Wilderness

Wilderness attracts tourists and generates visitor spending in proximate communities as people enjoy Wilderness for outdoor recreation. Wilderness also attracts amenity migrants and out-of-region investments into surrounding regional economies. To investigate the amount and types of employment and income generated by Wilderness visitation, we conducted an economic contribution analysis of aggregate national visitor expenditures. The U.S. Forest Service National Visitor Use and Monitoring (NVUM) economic spending profiles were used to construct types and amounts of Wilderness visitor spending and were applied to an estimated 9.9 million annual visitors across federal agencies. IMPLAN modeling software was used to estimate total effects and multipliers for output, employment, income, and value added. Results show that some $500 million is annually spent in communities adjacent to Wilderness, generating a direct effect of 5,700 jobs and a total output effect over $700 million across numerous industries ($2012 including indirect and induced effects).     

Migration,Sources of Income,and Community Change in the Nonmetropolitan Northwest

During the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s, the nonmetropolitan Northwest grew quite rapidly, narrowing the gap between the growth rates of the metropolitan Northwest, and oupacing national rates. This growth was largely the result of in-migration from regional and national metropolitan areas. Traditional economic base theory does not explain the recent growth, as employment levels in in the region's basic industries continue to stagnate and decline, and the sources of income for these in-migrants remain a mystery. This paper utilizes data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to determine the extent to which metropolitan-origin migrants are measurably different from oldtime nonmetropolitan residents on certain socioeconomic variables, in an attempt to understand the ways in which the newcomers survive financially. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that newcomers are younger, earn less in wages and salary, receive more nonearnings income, and reside in more valuable housing compared with the resident population. Discriminant analysis shows that differences in the earned income measures are largely explained by age differences, while the nonearnings income and value of residence remainsignificantly higher for the metropolitan origin migrants even when age and earned income are controlled. While the analysis indicates that measurable socioeconomic differences do exist between the two populations, it appears that the current wave of growth and change in the nonmetropolitan Northwest is much more complicated than a simple newcomer-oldtimer dichotomy.     

Maps,Numbers, Text,and Context: Mixing Methods in Feminist Political Ecology∗

This research tests the spatial mismatch hypothesis by comparing the employment probabilities of central city versus suburban African American males in nine metropolitan areas. Treatment effects models are used to control for the effects of both individual characteristics and residential self-selection on the probability of employment. A positive effect of suburban residential location on employment is found for the residents of Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, while no effect is found for the residents of Cleveland, Houston. Jackson, Memphis, and Newark. The general conclusion to be drawn is that the spatial mismatch effect is contingent on the particular characteristics of each metropolitan area. Preliminary analysis shows that metropolitan areas with a spatial mismatch effect are large in terms of total population and total land area, and have less efficient transportation systems.     

Leveraging geotagged Twitter data to examine neighborhood happiness,diet, and physical activity

ObjectivesUsing publicly available, geotagged Twitter data, we created neighborhood indicators for happiness, food and physical activity for three large counties: Salt Lake, San Francisco and New York.MethodsWe utilize 2.8 million tweets collected between February–August 2015 in our analysis. Geo-coordinates of where tweets were sent allow us to spatially join them to 2010 census tract locations. We implemented quality control checks and tested associations between Twitter-derived variables and sociodemographic characteristics.ResultsFor a random subset of tweets, manually labeled tweets and algorithm labeled tweets had excellent levels of agreement: 73% for happiness; 83% for food, and 85% for physical activity. Happy tweets, healthy food references, and physical activity references were less frequent in census tracts with greater economic disadvantage and higher proportions of racial/ethnic minorities and youths.ConclusionsSocial media can be leveraged to provide greater understanding of the well-being and health behaviors of communities—information that has been previously difficult and expensive to obtain consistently across geographies. More open access neighborhood data can enable better design of programs and policies addressing social determinants of health.     

PERSONAL ICONS AND AMULETS: REFLECTIONS OF CULTURE-VALUES AND HUMAN/LAND RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

The chauffeuring of children to/from school and childcare providers has received limited attention in previous research, although it structures parents' everyday activities in important ways. Combining analytical and cultural perspectives on juggling employment and caregiving, I explore the impact of such factors as household structure, employment and commute characteristics, residential location, and culturally defined norms about parenthood on chauffeuring arrangements for dual-earner households in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Fathers conduct a considerable share of chauffeuring trips, but arrangements are often informed by traditional gender norms. The spatial variability in the gendering of chauffeuring is limited.     

Sectoral Shifts and Occupational Migration in the United States

Abstract

This research is grounded in notions of differential economic restructuring across employment sectors and geographic space, as well as migration selectivity by occupation. A series of unconstrained competing-destinations models were employed to analyze the response by workers in thirteen occupational categories to sectoral employment change, average wages, and distance. As was hypothesized, workers in occupations that require high levels of education and skills are more responsive, in terms of migration, to economic opportunities in alternative labor-market areas. However, the results do not support the hypothesis that highly educated and skilled workers migrate longer distances. Further investigation suggests that opportunities for highly educated and skilled workers may be clustering in relatively few areas that are in relatively close proximity.     

Jobs and the Single Parent: An Analysis of Accessibility to Employment in Toronto

Abstract

In this article, we undertake an analysis of accessibility to jobs from the perspective of single-parent household members. Individuals in this demographic segment are of interest due to the fact they often face the double burden of household and employment responsibilities. A case study of the city of Toronto in Canada, an urban area that has seen an increase in absolute and relative numbers of single-parent households in recent years, is presented. Analysis is based on the application of relative accessibility deprivation indicators (RADI), which are calculated using model-based estimates of distance traveled for various population segments, as well as employment data for the city and its surroundings. The results of the analysis indicate that there are substantial differences in the levels of accessibility to jobs between members of single-parent households, in particular females, and members of other types of households.     

Coal Waste,Socioeconomic Change,and Environmental Inequality in Appalachia: Implications for a Just Transition in Coal Country

Resource-dependent communities are subject to both unstable economic patterns and environmental degradation associated with extractive industries. However, few studies have empirically analyzed these dynamics in tandem and over time. This paper explores whether Appalachian neighborhoods closer to coal waste impoundments experienced steeper poverty changes from 1990 to 2000. Impoundment failures have resulted in some of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history and scientists have expressed concerns over their growing heights and risks. Spatial regression models show that neighborhoods closer to impoundments have higher poverty increases on average, even after controlling for mining employment and other variables. These findings highlight the need for a deeper consideration of the environmental inequalities associated with the continued downturn of coal production and employment in the United States. Further, discussions about just transitions must recognize the legacy hazards and externalities associated with extractive industries – and their impacts on communities.     

The meaning of place: Attachments to Femundsmarka National Park,Norway, among tourists and locals

In Norway, the management of natural and cultural resources is subject to increasing public scrutiny. Conflicts are escalating over many issues concerning the balance between preservation and utilisation. Traditionally conflicts over issues like growth in commercial nature tourism, predator control, forest policies, protected areas management, cultural heritage protection, and rights associated with common access, have been explained in terms of opposing values, attitudes, and goals between urban and rural interests. However, historical differences between the urban and rural in terms of social conditions, employment opportunities, services, cultural norms, and lifestyles are no longer clear-cut or predictable. Nor can differences between urban and rural communities easily explain attitudes or values held in relation to the environment. To examine how a local community and a population of tourists feel about an area we examine data from two separate surveys from the Femundsmarka-Røros region in Southern Norway. This region includes a wilderness-type national park and a historic mining town recognised as a World Heritage Site and including a diverse agricultural landscape. We compare the perspective of the community with that of tourists regarding the strength and nature of attachment to place, and reasons and priorities for resource protection. We also assess how residence and experience of using the area affect attachment to place and attitudes to management priorities. The results have implications both for the management of this particular area, and for how we approach attitude diversity in resource management.     

Introduction: Rethinking Practices for Enhancing Diversity in the Discipline

This study explores the variations in household participation rates in recycling projects implemented in urban and suburban communities. A causal model is developed to compare the demographic attributes of residents, their awareness of the recycling programs, their environmental attitudes, and their overall willingness to recycle. The model is assessed by Linear Structural Equations Methodology (LISREL). The results suggest that household recycling behavior is not consistent across communities due primarily to variations in demographic characteristics of residents and their evaluation of program policies.     

An Approach To The Editing Of Massive Computerized Data Sources

Based on interviews with corporate executives, this paper examines several decisions to locate pulp and paper mills in British Columbia during the 1960's and early 1970's. It emphasizes locational evaluations of regions, communities, and sites interpreted as parts of wider investment decision processes and longer-run corporate strategies. Relationships between initial locational decisions and post-locational assessments and adjustments are also identified.     

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCALE IN MEASURING THE SECONDARY EFFECTS IN REGRESSION ANALYSIS

This study proposes a method of using ecological¹ variables in regression analysis to identify the weak or secondary effects of independent variables without introducing spurious correlation due to aggregation.     

The Influence of Community Size and Location on Different Dimensions of Vulnerability: a case study of Australian coastal communities

ABSTRACT

Coastal communities are part of the Australian identity but little is known about their characteristics and their long-term prosperity prospects. Increased migration to coastal areas and increased exposure to extreme climatic events indicates a need for social and economic data to inform socio-ecological systems planning. Here, we undertake a geo-spatial analysis to develop a typology of Australian coastal communities and assess relative vulnerability to climate-driven environmental change for a range of social and economic indicators. The aim of this study is to understand how the vulnerability of Australian coastal communities varies with geographic location or community size, and in comparison to other community types. Results show that both the population size and location of a coastal community matter and that coastal communities overall are more vulnerable on some socio-economic dimensions to climate-driven environmental change than their rural equivalents. However, results also demonstrate that the smallest coastal communities are strong in some important aspects of the human, social and financial domains, putting them in a good position to deal with some changes. Scale-appropriate and context-specific social policies are needed to address identified socio-economic vulnerabilities, supported by a range of formal and informal institutional structures, such as strategies to improve education and female workforce participation, and encourage participation in volunteering to increase human and social capital.