Estimating the contribution of urban public infrastructure to regional growth

An estimation of components of public capital stock for 38 metropolitan areas from 1953 to 1981, using the perpetual inventory method. These series are used to estimate the effect of public capital stock on regional manufacturing production.Regional economics ; Infrastructure (Economics) ; Capital investments

Urban Labor Markets

Urban labor markets are characterized by the spatial proximity of households and businesses, which offers firms and workers advantages that lead to more efficient markets, enhanced productivity, and greater economic success. Nevertheless, the nation's city, while generating a large proportion of the nation's wealth, houses much of the nation's economic disadvantaged workers. This paper describes the current conditions of urban labor markets and outlines a national urban policy agenda that addresses these concerns by taking into account cities' spatial dimension. The paper argues that a national urban labor policy should emphasize the effects of physical and informational proximity on growth, the benefits of efficient urban markets, and the importance of the access of workers to urban labor markers. These characteristics distinguish a national urban policy from simply a national policy targeted at people who happen to live in cities.local, labor, market, urban, Eberts

After the doors close: assisting laid-off workers to find jobs

Displaced workers ; Wages ; Unemployment

Impact of Charter School Attendance on Student Achievement in Michigan

Proponents of school reform have argued that charter schools and vouchers can provide adequate market pressure to improve the performance of traditional public schools. While the number of charter schools and student enrollment have burgeoned, relatively little attention has been paid to their effects on student achievement. Proponents of charter schools suggest a direct effect on student achievement through the restructuring of teaching and learning processes and an indirect effect through peer effects on learning and through the market forces of competition. Of course, competitive pressures may result in higher achievement in traditional public schools as well. This paper focuses on student achievement in charter schools in Michigan. The analyses presented in the paper suggest that students attending charter schools in Michigan are not reaching the same levels of achievement as students in traditional public schools in the same districts. In order to analyze the effectiveness of charter schools relative to their traditional public school counterparts, we examine the difference in student outcomes, as measured by the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). The State makes available the MEAP results each year along with limited demographic data that are self-reported by students when they take the tests. We rely mainly on this data set together with additional building- and district- level data that are supplied by local districts and made available on the Michigan Department of Education's (MDE's) website. Five years of MEAP scores from 1996/97 through 200/01 for individual fourth and fifth grade students are analyzed. By pairing charter schools with their "host" (meaning geographically co-located) districts, we attempt to create the local "market" for educational services in which both the charter schools and the public school districts compete. Several models of the difference between test score levels of students attending charter schools versus those from traditional public schools are estimated. In virtually all specifications, each of which controls for student, building, and district characteristics, students attending charter schools have lower test scores than students in traditional public schools. The magnitudes of the results vary by grade, year, and subject matter, but are generally on the order of 3 10 percent. We argue that our estimates of the negative differentials may be biased toward zero because we have not controlled for selection bias.charter, schools, Michigan, achievement, Hollenbeck, Eberts, Upjohn

The Connection of Stock Markets Between Germany and the USA: New Evidence From a Co-integration Study

This paper uses an empirical connection between real stock market indices of Germany and the USA for forecasting corresponding returns. We are starting from the random walk as the traditional forecasting model in stock market applications, extending it by co-integration. Since the cointegrating relation considers information about a systematic link between the stock market indices, containing a common stochastic trend of both, differences from the random walk occur particularly in the long run. Thus, the estimation period shows that with increasing forecasting horizon predictability of simple real returns of the German stock market gets more accurate than reflected traditionally. --Co-integration of international stock markets,random walk,discretely and continuously compounded returns,impulse responses

Cross-sectional analysis of public infrastructure and regional productivity growth

An analysis of the relationship between local public capital stock and regional manufacturing output, inputs, and productivity between 1965 and 1977. Results show that the effect of public capital stock on regional productivity, although limited, cannot be dismissed, and that public infrastructure appears to be a major factor in explaining growth rates of inputs.Infrastructure (Economics) ; Productivity ; Regional economics ; Manufactures

The Role of Partnerships in Economic Development and Labor Markets in the United States

This paper describes the role of local partnerships in the delivery of workforce and economic development services in the United States. Partnerships include both public and private organizations and increasingly depend upon local business people for leadership. With grassroots organizations traditionally taking the lead in addressing local issues and a long history of decentralized government, it is not surprising that a labyrinth of partnerships characterize the provision of public services. This paper grew out of a study tour that the Upjohn Institute conducted in conjunction with the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Delegates from 16 European countries visited nearly two dozen partnership organizations in the U.S. Midwest. The paper summarizes the history of local partnerships in the United States, tracks the separate evolution of workforce and economic development activities, describes the leadership roles of the federal and state governments in fostering partnerships, and provides case studies of current public-private partnerships that the delegates visited on the tour. The paper concludes by drawing lessons learned from the tour regarding the efficiency of partnerships, the efficiency of service delivery, the local management of programs, and the proper roles of federal, state, and local governments. A version of the paper appears in an OECD volume on partnerships entitled Local Partnerships for Better Governance, prepared by Sylvain Giguereworkforce, economic, development, OECD, partnerships, Eberts, Erickcek, Upjohn

Unionization and cost of production: compensation, productivity, and factor-use effects

A demonstration that unionization can affect cost of production through increases in compensation, through shifts in technologies, and through deviations from the least-cost combination of inputs (the factor-use effect).Labor productivity ; Wages ; Labor unions

Can competition among local governments constrain government spending?

An examination of the relationship between the number of local governmental units and the share of personal income going to local government expenditures, considering competition among both general-purpose and single-purpose government units.Expenditures, Public ; Municipal finance