GWIPP Research: Economic and Industrial Development Policy Studies
Title: Economic Competitiveness and the Determinants of Sub-National Economic Activity: A Literature Review
Funding: District of Columbia Office of Revenue Analysis
Start Date: June 2008
Status: Completed
Summary: A review of existing theory and research findings on regional and local competitive advantage and on firm location decisions. The purpose of the literature review was to inform the development of a proposal to study economic competitiveness in the Washington, DC region.
Title: Regional Economic Resilience (click for more on the Building Resilient Region Network of which this project is a part)
Funding: MacArthur Foundation (through the University of California-Berkeley)
Start Date: June 2008
Status: Current
Summary: As part of the MacArthur Foundation’s project on regional resilience, the primary goals of our study are to identify through rigorous quantitative analysis economically resilient and economically non-resilient regions, to explore the differences between the two (why are some resilient and others not), and to come to some conclusions about the way in which regional economies can become more resilient. In particular we are examining whether regions that have experienced negative economic shocks recover and, if so, how. We are also exploring through a set of intensive case studies the role of economic agency (private sector decision making in markets, hierarchies, and networks) and public policy, planning, and politics, in that process.
Title: Assessing Change in Ohio’s Older Industrial Cities
Funding: The Brookings Institution
Start Date: March 2008
Status: Current
Summary: The purpose of this study is to assist Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program in examining the changing fortunes of Ohio’s older industrial cities since 1950. The research traces decade by decade change in population, economic wellbeing, and industrial structure from 1950 onwards of Ohio cities that had a population of at least 20,000 as of 1950. In addition, using the methodology developed for the prior national weak market study conducted by GWIPP for Brookings, we identify indicators of urban condition and performance and employ these indicators to develop a typology that places Ohio cities in categories of weak, moderate, and strong performers in an Ohio context.
Title: The Effect of State Policy on Urban Performance
Researcher(s): Hal Wolman and Kimberly Furdell (GWIPP), and Ned Hill ( Cleveland State University).
Funding Source: The Fannie Mae Foundation
Start Date:
Research Status: Current
Summary:
To what extent and how does state government policy affect the performance of major cities within the state on a wide variety of indicators of resident well-being? The project will proceed by first identifying cities that have performed well between 1990-2000 on each of a series of 20 indicators (e.g., change in poverty rate, unemployment rate, housing affordability, crime rate, etc.). It will then model performance on each of these indicators to identify cities that performed better than the model would have predicted. Case studies will then be conducted to assess whether this better than expected performance was due to state (or city) policies directed at the state’s cities.
Title: The Effect of State and Local Fiscal Policy on Local Economic Development
Researcher(s): David Brunori, Michael Bell, and Hal Wolman (GWIPP), Joe Cordes (School of Public Policy and Public Administration, and Richard Green, School of Business (now at Lusk Center for Real Estate)
Funding Source: National Center for Real Estate Research
Start Date:
Research Status: Current
Summary:
Provide a synthesis and critique of current knowledge and research on 1) the factors driving local economic growth and development and 2) the effects of state and local fiscal policy upon local economic growth and development. The report will make clear where there is clear consensus, where there is disagreement, and where research is currently lacking.
Title: What Happens After Manufacturing Jobs Disappear? Non-manufacturing Alternatives for Industrial Regions
Researchers: Hal Wolman, Nancy Y. Augustine, Leah Curran, Janet Stephens (GWIPP); Howard Wial, Alec Friedhoff (Brookings Institution)
Funding Source: Sloan Foundation
Start Date: November 2006
Research Status: Current
Summary:
The continued loss of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is a well-known and well-studied phenomenon that continues to be a concern to business, labor, elected officials and policymakers at all levels of government, and researchers. Yet we know relatively little about what happens in places that have lost manufacturing jobs. Have other jobs filled the vacuum, or is there a net loss of employment? If other jobs have replaced manufacturing jobs, what sectors have they been in, and how do wages in sectors where jobs have been gained compare to wages in the manufacturing sectors where jobs have been lost? What steps have the public sector, business and other sectors taken to change the industry, technological, and/or product mix of the metropolitan area economy, and how effective have those steps been? The study will focus on U.S. metropolitan areas that had concentrations of manufacturing jobs above the national average in 1990 and that lost manufacturing jobs between 1990 and 2005. It will describe the patterns of manufacturing job loss and non-manufacturing job gain (or, in a few cases, loss) that occurred in these areas. Through a set of case studies of eight metropolitan areas, it will then examine various policies and strategies by which government, business, and/or civic institutions sought to replace lost manufacturing jobs with new jobs in non-manufacturing industries.
| Title | The Impact of Multinational Enterprise Strategy on Indigenous Enterprises: Horizontal Spillovers and Crowding Out in Developing Countries | ||
| Funding | National Science Foundation | ||
| Start Date | June 2006 | Category | Economic and Industrial Development Policy Studies |
| Status | Current | ||
| Summary | This project seeks to understand how multinational enterprise (MNE) investment into a developing country affects indigenous firms operating in the same industry. Critics of globalization have drawn attention to the potential negative impact of MNE investment, implying that countries' economic development policies should focus on indigenous entrepreneurship rather than foreign investment. For instance, MNEs can pose strong competition, appropriate scarce resources, and offer employment alternatives to individuals who would otherwise found their own business. However, in other cases, MNEs can benefit firms in the same industry, implying that countries' strategies to attract foreign investment can complement rather than run counter to policies to promote indigenous entrepreneurship. For example, MNEs may strengthen the local supply infrastructure, expose local managers to new technologies and work practices, or train employees who eventually move to local companies. This project begins from the premise that some MNE investment has a net negative impact, and other MNE investment a net positive impact, on indigenous firms in the same industry. It then seeks to understand how the characteristics and strategies of MNEs influence the degree to which these positive and negative effects occur. In order to gain insight into these issues, the project will include a large-scale survey of MNEs and indigenous firms operating in the country of Ghana. Additionally, in-person interviews of MNE managers, owners and managers of indigenous firms, and policy makers in Ghana will be undertaken in order to both put statistical results into perspective and develop materials to be disseminated for educational purposes. An understanding of the likely impact of an MNE’s investment, as well as the mechanisms by which positive and negative effects are most likely to occur, will assist developing countries’ policy makers in their efforts to lure foreign invest ment, give MNE managers greater insight into the impact of their activities on host countries, and help managers of indigenous firms better respond to MNE entry. |
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Title: Evaluating the Success of Urban Success Stories of the 1990s.
Researcher(s): Hal Wolman and Kimberly Furdell (GWIPP), Ned Hill (Cleveland State).
Funding Source: Fannie Mae Foundation
Start Date:
Research Status: Completed
Summary:
The project studied “urban success stories” which are defined as cities that gain the reputation of having rebounded from adversity, overcome their distressed condition, and experienced revitalization. The research evaluated the extent to which the well-being of the residents of these perceived “urban success story” cities actually improves as a result of the presumed success.
Title: Estimating Economic Impacts of Homeland Security Measures
Researcher(s): Joe Cordes, Anthony Yezer (Economics), Garry Young, Mary Katherine Foreman, and Charlotte Kirschner
Funding Source: Homeland Security Institute
Start Date:
Research Status: Completed
Summary:
Information on the economic impact of policies and programs undertaken to enhance homeland security is important in the future design and evaluation of measures undertaken to enhance homeland security. This project will: (a) provide a complete list of the types of countermeasures that have been or might be proposed to reduce either the risk or the consequences of terrorist attacks; (b) produce an in-depth survey of both the economic literature and federal government "best practices" and official guidelines for estimating the economic impacts these measures; and (c) apply one or more of the methods identified in (b) to estimate the economic impact of an actual measure (or set of measures) that have been or might be implemented to reduce either the risks of, or the consequences of terrorist attacks.
Title: The Economics of Open Access Journals
Researcher(s): Christopher Snyder (GWIPP) and Mark McCabe (Georgia Institute of Technology).
Funding Source: The Open Society Institute
Start Date:
Research Status: Completed
Summary:
A new business model for scholarly journals, open access, has gained wide attention recently. An open-access journal's articles are available over the Internet free of charge to all readers; revenue to cover publication costs comes from authors' fees. In this project we will construct an economic model of the journals market. We will use the model to determine if and under what conditions the open access model is (a) competitively viable and (b) socially efficient.