Department of Economics

Wright State University

Syllabus

 

Regional Economic Growth and Change

this is a plan, not a contract.

 I.   BASIC INFORMATION

 Course:            EC 440-01 - Regional Economics

                        9:45-10:50 MWF

                        MH 031

                        Winter 2009

 Instructor:         Dr. John P. Blair

Office:              260-B Rike Hall

Phone:              775-3484/775-3070

Office Hours:    11:00-12:00 MWF and by appointment.

 

Textbook:         John P. Blair and Michael Carroll , Local Economic Development : Analysis, Practices and Globalization.   Sage, 2009.

                        And  THE WEB BOOK OF REGIONAL SCIENCE (WBRS) AT  http://www.rri.wvu.edu/regscweb.htm

                   

II.   PURPOSE

Many of our graduates have jobs that require knowledge of economics as it may be applied to particular regions.  Furthermore, the globalization of the economy has made traditional economists more aware of the importance of space in economic events.  Accordingly, the purpose of our course is to provide you with a set of quantitative and theoretical tools to help analyze local economic development issues.

 III.  THE PLAN

Only the major topics and subtopics are listed below and others may be added.

 

 

IV. Schedule of Events

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Week, 1:  January 5, 2009                    

                                                                                      Introduction, Location Theory, and Data Sources

 

Read:  J. Blair and M. Carroll, Ch. 1, 2.   Recommended:  WBRS, Hoover and Giarratnia “Introduction to Regional Economic,  ch 2

 Introduction, Location Theory, and Data Sources.

 

Principal location factors

            Level of analysis

            From theory to practice

Trade-offs and fugitive documents

            NAICS

To see some types of jobs see click here

Start a business location study: Project 1

Gulas and associates, “ Choosing a http://trb.org/Landing Site”  .  Your report should develop and describe an abbreviated version of the companion spread sheet model found   at Location Model .  Pick a potential business that you might consider starting. 

Check out these sites. 

http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2004/mar/p152/ss2004_03p152.pdf

http://www.mccallumsweeney.com/

http://www.psegsitefinders.com/welcome.asp

http://faculty.washington.edu/~krumme/resources/location.html

http://www.neweconomyindex.org/

http://www.ohiosites.com/

County and metro data:

1.      http://www.census.gov/

2.      click on economic census   http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/econ97.html

3.      click on “other” on left   http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/recent.htm

4.      click on county business patter / metro  http://censtats.census.gov/cbpnaic/cbpnaic.shtml

5.      click on metro business patterns http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/msanaic/msasel.pl

6.      and collect data for the appropriate years. See   http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/msanaic/msasect.pl

For national comparable date: click on county business patterns / and select U.S..  http://censtats.census.gov/cbpnaic/cbpnaic.shtml

For neighborhood data:

From http://censtats.census.gov/cbpnaic/cbpnaic.shtml

Click on fact finder http://www.census.gov/

To get to the selection page click American fact finder on the left.  Click on data sets. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=DEC&_lang=en&_ts=

Click on box 3 or (last box for 1990 data) and click on detailed tables. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTGeoSearchByListServlet?ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3U&_lang=en&_ts=97672464977

To gather other census data, be sure to click “clear all sets” otherwise you will get old queries.

Make sure List at top is in blue.  Select 2000 or (1990) census and all census tracks and next, that will give you a choice of variables.  In our example select median household income and compare to get the tract with the lowest median household income.

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Week 2: January, 12, 2009

                                                                                                          Regional Structure

         

 Reading:  Blair ch. 4.   Suggested Reading:   Michael Porter, et al. “The Microeconomic Foundations of Economic Development”, 1998 and ____________ “Measuring the Micro-economic Foundations of Economic Development”  (see electronic reserves)

             Location Quotients    

            Agglomeration and cluster economies

            The Porter model

 

           Start Location Quotient study;  project 1

Location Study due; project 1

Some practice data can be found at dataregional2008.htm

            For your assignment on LQ’s see:

            http://data.bls.gov/LOCATION_QUOTIENT/servlet/lqc.ControllerServlet

            For an example of a professional study using location quotients see

            http://lmi2.detma.org/lmi/pdf/location_quotients.pdf

            Also:  Check  Michael Porters Web site, “Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness”—at www.isc.hbs.edu/

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Week 3: January 19, 2009  (no class on 19th, MLK day)

Regional Development

            Reading: Blair and Carroll, ch 5

            No class Jan 19—MLK Day

Export base theory and critique

Importance of the service sector

            Multiplier analysis

            Input-Output analysis

Start Export Base Study; project 2

Project 2 (LQ)  due 

            For data to use in the export base study see dataregional2008.htm.    

            As we discuss input output analysis see  http://www.bea.gov/industry/index.htm 

          and   http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/regional/perinc/meth/rims2.pdf

 _______________________________________________________

Week 4:  January 26, 2009

 Regional Development-II and Targeting

         

            Reading:  Blair and Carroll, ch. 6.

            Terry Buss, “The case Against Targeted Industry Strategies, Economic Development Quarterly, 1999. 

           Shift and share analysis

Local and national development

            Measurement issue

            Strength/importance matrix

            Targeting economic activity           

            Start Shift and Share analysis; project 3

Project 3 (Export Base) due

           Data for a “toy” Shift-Share” study can be found at_dataregional2008.htm.

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Week 5: February 2, 2009

 Social Network Analysis and The Institutional Environment, and the Flatting world

 

            Reading, Blair and Carroll, ch. 7           

 Exam 1

             Social Network Analysis

            Who should be at the table ?

            Learning regions

            Social Network Analysis

            Who benefits from growth?

            Mobility of resources

You may download a free copy of Pajek , a SMA software package at http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/pajek/

          Project 3 (Shift Share) due

         ____________________________________________________________________

Week 6: February 9, 2009                                                                        

The International Context

            Reading, Blair and Carroll, ch 8

             Models of trade and resource mobility

            Economics of migration and current issues

            Jobs-to-people versus people-to-jobs

            Implications for regional development

 _________________________________________________________

Week 7: February 16, 2009                                                                

  Fiscal Impacts and Costs and Benefits of Public Projects

 

Reading:  Blair and Carroll, ch. 12

Suggested Reading:  Garrent and  Leatherman, “An Introduction to State and Local Public Finance” Pt. 2 at http://www.rri.wvu.edu//, 2002.

          Fiscal impact analysis

Theory:  from “Pareto optimality”  to “the compensation principal” to “potential compensation”.

            Cost benefit analysis

            The discount rate

            Measurement issues

            Political realities

Start Cost Benefit exercise; Project 4

            Information for “toy” C/B study at   the parking problem  .

________________________________________________________________

Week 8: February 23,  2009                                                                     Land Use and Neighborhood Change

 

          Readings, Blair and Carroll, ch. 9,10

Economic forces that determine land use

            Property rights considerations

            Sustainability and urban form

          Project 4 (Cost benefit study) due

                       

            Start Neighborhood description, project 5. See. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=ACS&_submenuId=datasets_1&_lang=en&_ts=

 

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Week 9: February March 2, 2009                                                                  

Central Place Theory and Gravity Models

         

            Reading, Blair and Carroll, ch.3

 

          Market areas and demand

          Cities as systems within systems of cities

            Measuring market areas

            Gravity models 

          Start Market Feasibility study -- Project 6 . See   Shopping Center Problem

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Week 10: March 9, 2009 

Policy and Planning

            Nature of futures analysis

            Do economists forecast the future?

            Some forecasting techniques    

            Futures analysis and policy

Project 5 due.

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Final Exam

March 18th  8:30-10:30 AM  

Also:  Project 5 (Market and Feasibility) due

VI.  Grade determination

            Exam 1-                      20%

            Final exam                   20%

            Project 1-6                  60% equally weighted  

 

John P. Blair’s Home Page