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Using MSA-level data over 1994–2014, we study the effect of bank failures on local business dynamics, in the form of net business formation and net job creation. We find that at least one bank failure in the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with the mean population prevents approximately 475 net businesses from forming in that area, compared with MSAs that experience no bank failures, ceteris paribus. The equivalent effect on net job creation is 16,433 net job losses. Our results are even stronger for small businesses, which are usually more dependent on bank-firm relationships. These effects point to significant welfare losses stemming from bank failures, highlighting an important role for government intervention. We show that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is effective in reducing the negative effects of bank failures on local business dynamics. This positive effect of TARP is quite uniform across small and large firms.

Purpose This paper aims to use statistical analyses to understand the trends on housing liquidity and pricing by accounting for macroeconomic factors that vary at national level and at metropolitan statistical area level for all metropolitan statistical areas in Texas. In addition, the authors test for seasonality in all the metropolitan statistical areas in Texas. Design/methodology/approach Using publicly available data from Zillow a listing website, the authors conduct an analysis of all housing markets at metropolitan statistical area level in Texas to understand the factors that drive the liquidity and pricing. The authors use two measures for liquidity, namely, time to sell the house and sales to list ratio. The authors also try to understand the decision to lower the price of the listed houses. In addition, the authors conduct a test for seasonality within the year in these housing markets. Findings The analyses conclude that there is a significant impact of listing prices, unemployment rates, 30-year mortgage rates, consumer sentiment and oil price changes on the liquidity of the housing markets and decisions of sellers to adjust the prices down. In addition, the authors provide evidence of the existence of seasonality in most metropolitan statistical areas in Texas both for pricing and volume of transactions. Originality/value This is the first study to look at housing liquidity and pricing trends for about 25 markets in Texas. In addition, the authors provide evidence of the importance of oil prices for the housing markets in Texas metropolitan statistical areas.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between residential real estate prices and unemployment rates at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) level. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a long time-series of MSA-level quarterly data from 1990 to 2018. It uses an instrumental variable approach to estimate the effects of residential real estate prices on unemployment rates using the geography-based land constraints measure of Saiz (2010) as the instrument. Findings The results show that changes in residential real estate prices do not have a causal effect on unemployment rates in the same quarter. However, it takes 9-12 months for an increase (decrease) in real estate prices to decrease (increase) unemployment rates. This effect is significant during both pre- and post-financial crisis periods and robust to control for the economic characteristics of MSAs. Research limitations/implications This paper contributes to the emerging literature that studies the real effects of real estate. Particularly, the methodology and the findings can be used to investigate causal relationships between housing prices and small business development or economic growth. The findings are also of interest to policymakers and practitioners as they illustrate how and when real estate price shocks propagate to the real economy through unemployment rates. Practical implications This study’s findings have important implications for academics, policymakers and investors as they provide evidence of a snowball effect associated with shocks to real estate prices: increasing (decreasing) unemployment rates following a decrease (increase) in real estate prices exacerbates the real estate price movements and their economic consequences. Originality/value This paper analyzes a significantly longer period, from 1990 to 2018, than the existing literature. Additionally, it uses the MSA-level land unavailability measure of Saiz (2010) as an instrument to explore the effects of residential real estate prices on unemployment rates and when those effects are observed in the real economy.

This paper proposes two novel measures to study the geographic mobility of faculty members from their graduating institutions in the United States: a continuous measure using geographic distance and a discrete one concerning the concept of Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The joint application of the two novel measures to a hand-collected hiring network dataset including more than 15,000 faculty members in three disparate disciplines (business, computer science, and history) leads to interesting findings regarding geographic mobility of American professors from graduating institutions, defined by relocation distance or cross-MSA from the PhD granting institution and the hiring institution. Overall, American faculty exhibits high geographic mobility from their graduating institutions in terms of relocation distance and cross-MSA moves. History faculty members have the highest mobility while those in business show the lowest mobility. We further find that assistant professors show the highest mobility while full professors show lowest mobility. In addition, while there is little distance difference between male and female faculty members overall, female faculty members are less likely to move between MSAs or regions in the United States.

Using individual‐level debt payments data from a credit bureau, we estimate debt service ratios by debt type for the United States. While highly correlated with the Board of Governors' national debt service ratio, we identify some required payments categories that vary substantively from the aggregate assumptions used in the Board's published data series. Estimating novel state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA)‐level debt service ratios, we show that debt service ratios rose dramatically during the 2000s housing boom in several of the most impacted states and MSAs. Our state‐level debt service ratios are shown to be useful in predicting state bankruptcy rates.

This study uses forty years of data from the US Census of Governments to examine the impact of changes in local autonomy on the creation of special districts, the most popular and fastest growing form of local government in the U.S. Using a fixed effects negative binomial regression specified at the urban county and MSA level, we find that restrictions of fiscal autonomy of cities is associated with creation of new special districts. The magnitude of this finding is amplified when limits on fiscal autonomy are paired with grants of functional autonomy. We find no analogous effects for county governments. These two findings are consistent with the circumvention argument made in the local autonomy literature.

Purpose Local investors have the ability to impact the stock prices and returns of local firms. However, the impact of news made by a firm on local investors and neighboring companies is absent from the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to fill that void and examine how a local investor clientele affects the stock market reactions of firms located within the same geographic proximity as a news-generating firm. Design/methodology/approach After accounting for firm, industry, and geographic characteristics, this study examines how a firm’s dividend initiation announcement (positive news) influences stock prices of seemingly unrelated firms within the same metropolitan statistical area (MSA). Findings Dividend-paying firms located in areas with a higher percentage of dividend clientele experience a positive comovement reaction when a seemingly unrelated firm within the same MSA announces a dividend initiation. The positive reactions are specifically for dividend-paying firms, while non-dividend payers exhibit no significant response. These results are robust to numerous regression methods and alternative explanations. Practical implications These findings are consistent with the positive-investor-attention hypothesis, suggesting positive spillover effects from news announcements for other local firms in the presence of individual investor clientele. Originality/value This is the first study to link how news generated by one firm can influence other geographically local firms, providing evidence on the impact of individual investor clientele on stock returns of local non-news firms.

CO-PrIDE was a three-year Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) demonstration project to increase access to PrEP for men who have sex with men and transgender people in the Denver/Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. CO-PrIDE implemented a multi-level framework featuring collaboration between health systems and community organizations to link clients to PrEP prescribers and provide support services intended to help clients overcome socioeconomic barriers to PrEP uptake. These services included payment assistance, insurance navigation, and healthcare navigation. CO-PrIDE implemented a participatory mixed-methods evaluation to understand the services associated with PrEP uptake.From January 2016 to December 2018, navigators screened 10,129 clients for PrEP and offered supportive services. The results indicated that clients who received payment assistance were more likely to accept a PrEP prescription (aPR = 3.52, p.0001). Additionally, clients were more likely to receive a PrEP prescription through a co-located health system model, meaning the clinical provider is located with the PrEP Navigator (aPR = 3.78, p.001).The primary factors associated with increased PrEP uptake included co-location of navigation and clinical PrEP services and providing navigation to payment assistance programs. The evaluation results suggest that a multi-level framework that includes diverse support services is needed to implement a sustainable PrEP program.

Objectives The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to institute a 5-year trial of bundled payments for coronary artery bypass grafting through 90 days after discharge. To investigate the impact, we reviewed actual inpatient costs for patients undergoing bypass surgery relative to the target price. Methods A total of 13,276 Medicare patients with estimated cost data underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting from 2008 to 2015 in 18 hospitals over 8 Medicare-defined regions within the Commonwealth of Virginia. Actual 2015 inpatient costs were compared with estimated target prices for each year of the pilot, based on the previous 3 years and stratified by Diagnosis-Related Group. Results The mean 2015 cost per patient was $50,394 with high variation (range, $27,862-$74,169). On average, hospitals would receive a refund of $17,682 in year 1, but then owe Medicare increasing amounts up to $367,985 in year 5. If 2015 were the final year of the pilot, 13 of the 18 hospitals (72%) would have owed Medicare for cost overruns averaging $614,270 (range, $67,404-$2,102,292). Costs were below the target price at 5 of 18 hospitals, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would have paid them an extra $272,355 on average (range, $88,628-$567,429). Conclusions Hospitals will face immediate financial pressure due to average cost increases of 3.6% per year and an automatic reduction in payment. As regional pricing is phased in, hospitals can expect to owe Medicare increasing amounts. The net effect is shifting of financial risks to hospitals, which could restrict access to care for higher-risk patients.

In order to examine associations between asthma morbidity and local ambient air pollution in an area with relatively low levels of pollution, we conducted a time-series analysis of asthma hospital admissions and fine particulate matter pollution (PM(2.5)) in and around Jackson, MS, for the period 2003 to 2011. Daily patient-level records were obtained from the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) Asthma Surveillance System. Patient geolocations were aggregated into a grid with 0.1° × 0.1° resolution within the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. Daily PM(2.5) concentrations were estimated via machine-learning algorithms with remotely sensed aerosol optical depth and other associated parameters as inputs. Controlling for long-term temporal trends and meteorology, we estimated a 7.2% (95% confidence interval 1.7–13.1%) increase in daily all-age asthma emergency room admissions per 10 μg/m(3) increase in the 3-day average of PM(2.5) levels (current day and two prior days). Stratified analyses reveal significant associations between asthma and 3-day average PM(2.5) for males and blacks. Our results contribute to the current epidemiologic evidence on the association between acute ambient air pollution exposure and asthma morbidity, even in an area characterized by relatively good air quality.

Though concern has arisen in recent years over manufacturing job losses in major U.S. metropolitan areas, this study demonstrates that foreign manufacturing firms still tend to locate in such areas. Using longitudinal data from the National Establishment Time-Series data set for the state of Georgia, we examine intrastate spatial patterns of manufacturing foreign direct investment (FDI) employment and associated underlying location factors. We find a strong spatial concentration of manufacturing FDI employment in metropolitan areas over time, particularly in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area (MSA), the largest metropolitan area in the state. The results of the panel regression analysis suggest that existing agglomerations of innovative firms and institutions, a pool of highly educated workers, highly developed transportation networks, and critical links to domestic and international markets in metropolitan areas are key attraction factors for manufacturing FDI.

SUMMARY Research in information economics seeks to understand how the actions of one individual affect the decisions of related individuals. We examine this issue in the context of information contagion between audit offices in the same locality. Specifically, we investigate whether contagion among Big N audit offices in the same metropolitan statistical area (MSA) causes their client firms' financial reporting quality to correlate. We document a relation between overstatement of earnings for one firm (as evidenced by a subsequent restatement) and higher abnormal accruals for another firm in that same year, where both firms' auditors are located in the same MSA. The correlation in reporting quality is consistent with contagion in practices between auditors. We also find evidence that auditor competition is one channel through which information contagion occurs. The between-audit office contagion we document is incremental to within-audit office contagion documented by prior research. Our evidence is important in understanding additional factors related to the quality of auditing and financial reporting and thus should be relevant to audit committees, regulators attempting to improve audit quality, and stakeholders in general.

Gay and lesbian neighbourhoods play a pivotal role as places of safety, empowerment and visibility for gay and lesbian individuals. Using over 9000 real estate listings from the gay- and lesbian-oriented Dallas Voice newspaper, our paper uses spatial statistical methods to explore the location of gay and lesbian neighbourhoods in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). With data spanning the years 1986 to 2012, we examine how gay and lesbian real estate hot spots have changed over time. Advertisers consistently listed rental properties in the primary gay neighbourhood of Oak Lawn in central Dallas. However, for-sale property listings tell another story; hot spots expanded considerably from the traditional gay neighbourhoods of Oak Lawn and Oak Cliff to include a number of adjacent neighbourhoods through the mid-2000s, then contracted during the late 2000s. We conclude that while adjacent neighbourhoods have become hot spots in recent years, the gay- and lesbian-oriented real estate market continues to focus on traditional gay and lesbian enclaves in central Dallas.

We construct monthly economic activity indices for the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) beginning in 1990. Each index is derived from a dynamic factor model based on twelve underlying variables capturing various aspects of metro area economic activity. To accommodate mixed-frequency data and differences in data-publication lags, we estimate the dynamic factor model using a maximum-likelihood approach that allows for arbitrary patterns of missing data. Our indices highlight important similarities and differences in business cycles across MSAs. While a number of MSAs experience sizable recessions during the national recessions of the early 1990s and early 2000s, other MSAs escape recessions altogether during one or both of these periods. Nearly all MSAs suffer relatively deep recessions near the recent Great Recession, but we still find significant differences in the depth of recent metro recessions. We relate the severity of metro recessions to a variety of MSA characteristics and find that MSAs with less-educated populations and less elastic housing supplies experience significantly more severe recessions. After controlling for national economic activity, we also find significant evidence of dynamic spillover effects in economic activity across MSAs.

The paper examines the relationship between climate amenities and locational choices in retirement. Using data from 2017 release of the American Community Survey, I construct a household residential location choice model and value climate amenities from the trade-offs among housing cost, climate amenities, and other locational attributes in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA). On average, a retired household is willing to pay $1209 for a 1 °C drop in average summer temperature, $1114 for a 1 °C increase in average winter temperature, and $486 for a 1 °C decrease in temperature variability. The values of climate amenities vary with household demographic characteristics, and older households with a higher retirement income and disability have a higher marginal willingness to pay for a favorable climate. Moreover, among the retired population, there exists a positive preference-based sorting across MSAs, where those favoring the preferred temperatures more than the average live in places with a more friendly climate. Using the estimated preference parameters, I compute the values of projected climate amenities and find that retired households would be willing to pay nearly 3.3% of their annual income to avoid a standard future projected climate scenario. Simulation results suggest that over 2% of retired households would relocate in response to this level of climate change, resulting in an overall northbound shift in the retired population.

This study examines the effect of public reporting of quality information on the demand for public insurance. In particular, we examine the effect of the introduction of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital quality report cards in 2008. Using data from the Current Population Survey in 2005-2015, we find that new information about the quality of a VA hospital had a significant effect on VA coverage among veterans living in the same Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Despite the significant effect on VA coverage, the quality report did not have a spillover effect on veterans' labor supply. Moreover, updated quality information released in later years, which was presented in a less straightforward form, led to no additional changes in VA coverage. These findings suggest that quality reports for public insurance programs can be used as a policy lever to facilitate take up decision among potential beneficiaries.

This paper investigates asymmetry in US housing price cycles at the state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level, using the Triples test (Randles, Flinger, Policello, & Wolfe, 1980) and the Entropy test of Racine and Maasoumi (2007). Several reasons may account for asymmetry in housing prices, including non-linearity in their determinants and in behavioural responses, in particular linked to equity constraints and loss aversion. However, few studies have formally tested the symmetry of housing price cycles. We find that housing prices are asymmetric in the vast majority of cases. Taking into account the results of the two tests, deepness asymmetry, which represents differences in the magnitude of upswings and downturns, is found in 39 out of the 51 states (including the District of Columbia) and 238 out of the 381 MSAs. Steepness asymmetry, which measures differences in the speed of price changes during upswings and downturns, is found in 40 states and 257 MSAs. These results imply that linear models are in most cases insufficient to capture housing price dynamics. First Published Online:30 Nov 2018

Neighborhood parks help women engage in physical activity (PA). We used the physical activity resources assessment instrument to determine the availability, quality and quantity of physical features, and amenities in 19 neighborhood parks randomly selected from the Jackson, Mississippi, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Madison County averaged the most quality PA features (mean, 13) and quality PA amenities (mean, 25.8), and it averaged the least quality incivilities (mean, 1.6). The total neighborhood parks quality physical activity resources (QPAR) was determined by a composite index QPAR of features, amenities, and incivilities. Neighborhood parks’ QPAR index was 545 (mean, 28.7), showing less use of parks. Quality PA features were significantly (P < .01) associated with quality PA amenities.

Griliches’ knowledge production function has been increasingly adopted at the regional level where location-specific conditions drive the spatial differences in knowledge creation dynamics. However, the large majority of such studies rely on a traditional regression approach that assumes spatially homogenous marginal effects of knowledge input factors. This paper extends the authors’ previous work (Kang and Dall’erba in Int Reg Sci Rev, 2015. doi: 10.1177/0160017615572888 ) to investigate the spatial heterogeneity in the marginal effects by using nonparametric local modeling approaches such as geographically weighted regression (GWR) and mixed GWR with two distinct samples of the US Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and non-MSA counties. The results indicate a high degree of spatial heterogeneity in the marginal effects of the knowledge input variables, more specifically for the local and distant spillovers of private knowledge measured across MSA counties. On the other hand, local academic knowledge spillovers are found to display spatially homogenous elasticities in both MSA and non-MSA counties. Our results highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each county’s innovation capacity and suggest policy implications for regional innovation strategies.

Immigration policy remains a hotly debated issue nationally in the United States, but the interaction of legislative gridlock on comprehensive reform and the actions of policy entrepreneurs push policy innovation into the arena of state and local governments. This article examines the intersection of immigration and local policy making, examining basic patterns of local responsiveness and apparent factors driving the response. Using the insights of existing research, including Rubaii-Barrett and Brenner, this article highlights political incorporation (e.g., Ramakrishnan and Gulasekaram) and bureaucratic incorporation (e.g., Marrow) as competing explanations in the literature. As an exploratory effort to evaluate the relative claims, this article reports the results of a document analysis of the local government Web sites for seventeen localities in the Richmond, VA, Metropolitan Statistical Area looking first at how localities are responding, second at indications of why and finally assessing whether initiative for responses occurs more at a bureaucratic or elected official level.

New data collected for the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area provide detailed information on financial assets that allow analysis to extend beyond the traditional black–white divide. Targeting US-born blacks, Caribbean blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and other Hispanics, findings from the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color survey underscore the large racial and ethnic disparities in financial wealth, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic status. Further, some notable differences between Boston’s communities of color highlight the importance of detailed analyses for research on the racial wealth gap. In particular, among non-white communities Dominicans report comparatively low asset and high debt amounts, while Caribbean blacks report relatively higher levels of wealth. Altogether, these findings point to the need for wealth building opportunities in communities of color and further investigation of the causes and consequences of financial disparities between groups of color disaggregated by specific ancestral origin.

The purpose of this study is to explain urban wage differentials with a special focus on educational levels. The authors explore whether the share of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher in the community matters to the wages of those within specific educational cohorts, accounting for cost of living, human capital externalities, consumer externalities, policy factors, and local labor market conditions. Using data for all U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas between 2005 and 2012, the authors find that the presence of more highly educated people will result in a higher median wage in the community overall, as do many studies, but that this factor does not significantly increase the wage for any individual education cohort. These results are hidden if we only look at the entire workforce in the aggregate.

Determining the spatial distribution of gay and lesbian households is relevant to understanding gay and lesbian identity and empowerment, and it has been a goal for geographers over the past half century. Our paper answers to calls for investigations of gay and lesbian geography beyond traditional enclaves. We use 9210 street addresses of advertised rental and for-sale properties posted between 1986 and 2012 in the gay and lesbian-oriented Dallas Voice to map historical changes in the spatial distribution of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area’s gay and lesbian population. We show how gay and lesbian markets contrast with those of all Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Statistical Area renters and homeowners, and consider our data in light of Dallas Voice coverage of how the location of the gay and lesbian population has shifted. Among other things, we find that advertisements have come to feature properties further from gay bars, and in census tracts of higher income, education levels, and rents, but that these advertisements also have consistently featured properties in census tracts with older construction and a higher proportion of same-sex coupled households. Our findings provide evidence of dispersion from old enclaves and reclustering in new areas, suggesting both lesser attachment to traditional enclaves, and the continuing importance of proximity to each other for gay and lesbian households.

Purpose. To develop a reliable observational data collection instrument to measure characteristics of the fast-food restaurant environment likely to influence consumer behaviors, including product availability, pricing, and promotion. Design. The study used observational data collection. Setting. Restaurants were in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area. Subjects. A total of 131 chain fast-food restaurant outlets were included. Measures. Interrater reliability was measured for product availability, pricing, and promotion measures on a fast-food restaurant observational data collection instrument. Analysis. Analysis was done with Cohen's κ coefficient and proportion of overall agreement for categorical variables and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for continuous variables. Results. Interrater reliability, as measured by average κ coefficient, was .79 for menu characteristics, .84 for kids' menu characteristics, .92 for food availability and sizes, .85 for beverage availability and sizes, .78 for measures on the availability of nutrition information, .75 for characteristics of exterior advertisements, and .62 and .90 for exterior and interior characteristics measures, respectively. For continuous measures, average ICC was .88 for food pricing measures, .83 for beverage prices, and .65 for counts of exterior advertisements. Conclusion. Over 85% of measures demonstrated substantial or almost perfect agreement. Although some measures required revision or protocol clarification, results from this study suggest that the instrument may be used to reliably measure the fast-food restaurant environment.

If house prices in one metropolitan statistical area (MSA) are increasing much faster than in another MSA, should one infer that overall inflation is also much faster in the former?

Author(s): Godoy, Mariela | Abstract: Innovation has increased dramatically since the advent of the 1765 steam machine. Today, we possess technology that can process millions of instructions in a matter of seconds. Endogenous growth theory has stressed the importance of technological change and education as a source of economic growth. Thanks to technological innovation and the related economic growth, many people are better off today than before. However, computers cannot mimic human capacity in creativity and the ability to envision new solutions to existing problems. The rate at which workers use these unique capabilities is industry related. Therefore, in this study I relate the proportion of workers in each industry to known industry level innovation rates to predict economic growth rates at the local level. This study is especially important, as it guides policy makers as to what incentives they might use to attract new industries to bolster their future economic well being. Specifically, this study analyzes how innovation and other factors impact growth in the United States through the years 2005-2015 at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) using a lagged first-difference quantitative statistical model. This model is well matched to the structure of the data in revealing causality between the independent variables and the dependent. Results indicate no significant relationship between innovation, as measured by localized Multifactor Productivity (MFP), and growth. However, results do indicate a strong relationship between educational attainment and economic growth. Quantitative analysis reveals that a 1% increase in average years of education within an MSA will, on average, cause an increase in localized GDP the following year by 2.33%. Future research is encouraged to better understand the matter and to determine policies that can aid educational attainment and thus, boost economic growth.

This paper applies the dynamic panel data generalized method of moments estimator to the data on commercial passenger air traffic at all primary airports in the United States to evaluate the impact of traffic volume and number of destinations served with non-stop flights on the key indicators of regional economic development. We find that number of destinations served with non-stop flights has a much clearer and more robust impact on level of employment, number of business establishments, and average wage in the region. Passenger traffic volume affects employment and average wage, but not number of establishments. At the sample median, connecting a metropolitan statistical area with an extra destination, keeping everything else constant, creates 98 jobs and facilitates the opening of four new business establishments that employ people. The corresponding numbers for the sample mean are 223 jobs and 15 businesses. The impact of air travel on regional economic development is influenced by competition on the respective airline markets.

Using Consumer Expenditure Survey data this paper shows that more educated workers demand more high-skill-intensive services and, to a lesser extent, more very low-skill-intensive services (such as personal services). Additional evidence at the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) level shows that this “education elasticity of demand” mechanism can explain part of the correlation between the share of college-educated workers in a city and the employment share of service industries. The parametrization of a simple model suggests that this induced demand shift can explain around 6.5 percent of the relative demand shift in the United States between 1984 and 2002. Similar results are provided for the United Kingdom. (JEL D12, J24, J31, L84)

Portland Metro's actions embody many elements of the smart growth strategy. Although a few Southern California cities, especially in Ventura County, have passed smart growth ballot initiatives, most jurisdictions remain predisposed to development. The chapter focuses on aggregate population and employment data in the metropolitan regions. The Los Angeles Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of five counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura. The comparison that many observers find hard to believe is that Portland, despite decades of density-promoting planning, has such a low density compared to Los Angeles. The rationale for the focuses on Portland is justified by its reputation as a paradigm for urban sustainability efforts. The chapter suggests that smart growth ballot initiatives are more window-dressing than a recipe for change. It argues by drawing some parallels with Los Angeles, widely regarded as the epitome of unsustainability.

Within the social sciences, there is a long and storied history of the effect of economic conditions on vote choice. The traditional arguments are that voters have personal (egotropic) and/or other-regarding (sociotropic) preferences and that they reward and punish politicians electorally based on economic conditions at these levels. However, there is a third option. As industries, employment, and economic conditions are not uniformly distributed across the country, preferences may be locally based. This project combines unique survey data with Metropolitan Statistical Area unemployment numbers and finds evidence of distinct preferences at a third “communotropic” level.

This paper estimates the conditional wage gaps between black and white full-time male workers at the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level using data from the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Censuses. The magnitudes of the wage gaps are found to vary substantially across location. As predicted in Becker's (The economics of discrimination, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1957) seminal theory on wage discrimination, we find that the wage gaps are greater in MSAs that have a larger proportion of black workers in the labor force. This is the most consistent result across all specifications and years. We also find the gaps to be greater where there is an overrepresented black population in jail and a more segregated population if the MSA is in the South. The proportion of workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement in the private sector is associated with greater relative black earnings. We find that although the relationship between race and wages has diminished over time as famously suggested in Wilson (The declining significance of race: Blacks and changing American institutions, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1978), the significance of race remains.

Background and Aims Heroin-related overdose is linked to polydrug use, changes in physiological tolerance and social factors. Individual risk can also be influenced by the structural risk environment including the illicit drug market. We hypothesized that components of the US illicit drug market, specifically heroin source/type, price and purity, will have independent effects on the number of heroin-related overdose hospital admissions. Methods Yearly, from 1992 to 2008, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) price and purity series were estimated from the US Drug Enforcement Administration data. Yearly heroin overdose hospitalizations were constructed from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Socio-demographic variables were constructed using several databases. Negative binomial models were used to estimate the effect of price, purity and source region of heroin on yearly hospital counts of heroin overdoses controlling for poverty, unemployment, crime, MSA socio-demographic characteristics and population size. Results Purity was not associated with heroin overdose, but each $100 decrease in the price per pure gram of heroin resulted in a 2.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.8%, 1.0%] increase in the number of heroin overdose hospitalizations (P = 0.003). Each 10% increase in the market share of Colombian-sourced heroin was associated with a 4.1% (95% CI = 1.7%, 6.6%) increase in number of overdoses reported in hospitals (P = 0.001) independent of heroin quality. Conclusions Decreases in the price of pure heroin in the United States are associated with increased heroin-related overdose hospital admissions. Increases in market concentration of Colombian-source/type heroin is also associated with an increase in heroin-related overdose hospital admissions. Increases in US heroin-related overdose admissions appear to be related to structural changes in the US heroin market.

While environmental justice (EJ) research in the United States has focused primarily on the social distribution of chronic pollution risks, previous empirical studies have not analyzed disparities in exposure to both chronic (long-term) and acute (short-term) pollution in the same study area. Our article addresses this limitation though a case study that compares social inequities in exposure to chronic and acute pollution risks in the Greater Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area, Texas. The study integrates estimates of chronic cancer risk associated with ambient exposure to hazardous air pollutants from the Environmental Protection Agency's National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (2005), hazardous chemical accidents from the National Response Center's Emergency Response Notification System (2007-2011), and sociodemographic characteristics from the American Community Survey (2007-2011). Statistical analyses are based on descriptive comparisons, bivariate correlations, and locally derived spatial regression models that account for spatial dependence in the data. Results indicate that neighborhoods with a higher percentage of Hispanic residents, lower percentage of homeowners, and higher income inequality are facing significantly greater exposure to both chronic and acute pollution risks. The non-Hispanic black percentage is significantly higher in neighborhoods with greater chronic cancer risk, but lower in areas exposed to acute pollution events. Households isolated by language--those highly likely to face evacuation problems during an actual chemical disaster--tend to reside in areas facing significantly greater exposure to high-impact acute events. Our findings emphasize the growing need to examine social inequities in exposure to both chronic and acute pollution risks in future EJ research and policy.

Some cancer survivors report spending 20% of their annual income on medical care. Undue financial burden that patients face related to the cost of care is referred to as financial hardship, which may be more prevalent among rural cancer survivors. This study examined contrasts in financial hardship among 1419 rural and urban cancer survivors using the 2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey supplement - The Effects of Cancer and Its Treatment on Finances. We combined four questions, creating a measure of material financial hardship, and examined one question on financial worry. We conducted multivariable logistic regression analyses, which produced odds ratios (OR) for factors associated with financial hardship and worry, and then generated average adjusted predicted probabilities. We focused on rural and urban differences classified by metropolitan statistical area (MSA) designation, controlling for age, education, race, marital status, health insurance, family income, and time since last cancer treatment. More rural cancer survivors reported financial hardship than urban survivors (23.9% versus 17.1%). However, our adjusted models revealed no significant impact of survivors' MSA designation on financial hardship or worry. Average adjusted predicted probabilities of financial hardship were 18.6% for urban survivors (Confidence Interval [CI]: 11.9%-27.5%) and 24.2% for rural survivors (CI: 15.0%-36.2%). For financial worry, average adjusted predicted probabilities were 19.9% for urban survivors (CI: 12.0%-31.0%) and 18.8% for rural survivors (CI: 12.1%-28.0%). Improving patient-provider communication through decision aids and/or patient navigators may be helpful to reduce financial hardship and worry regardless of rural-urban status.

The first author acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 71774152, 91546109; and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y7x0231505).

Intuitively, increasing the available land, which is an economic resource, should improve social welfare. However, traditional economic models of urban economy show that an urban growth boundary (UGB) policy, which restricts land availability, actually improves social welfare by reducing the negative externalities imposed by congestion. Nevertheless, recent studies have found that a UGB policy is not always welfare improving. This paper examines both expansive and restrictive UGB regimes using the Chicago metropolitan statistical area as an example. The simulation results presented herein show that an expansive UGB positively affects social welfare, while a restrictive UGB improves social welfare if open spaces are considered and vacant land outside the UGB registers a moderate fall in value. Further, the proportion of absentee landlords is an important determinant of welfare gains, since their gain (or loss) from a UGB policy in the real estate market is a drain from the urban economy. Moreover, a restrictive UGB leads to centralized land use, while an expansive UGB results in moderate suburbanization. Finally, gasoline consumption decreases under a restrictive UGB but increases under an expansive UGB because vehicle miles travelled increase as the city expands outward.

Objective To develop a reliable food store observational data collection instrument to be used for measuring product availability, pricing, and promotion. Design Observational data collection. Setting A total of 120 food stores (26 supermarkets, 34 grocery stores, 54 gas/convenience stores, and 6 mass merchandise stores) in the Chicago metropolitan statistical area. Main Outcome Measures Inter-rater reliability for product availability, pricing, and promotion measures on a food store observational data collection instrument. Analysis Cohen's kappa coefficient and proportion of overall agreement for dichotomous variables and intra-class correlation coefficient for continuous variables. Results Inter-rater reliability, as measured by average kappa coefficient, was 0.84 for food and beverage product availability measures, 0.80 for interior store characteristics, and 0.70 for exterior store characteristics. For continuous measures, average intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.82 for product pricing measures; 0.90 for counts of fresh, frozen, and canned fruit and vegetable options; and 0.85 for counts of advertisements on the store exterior and property. Conclusions and Implications The vast majority of measures demonstrated substantial or almost perfect agreement. Although some items may require revision, results suggest that the instrument may be used to reliably measure the food store environment.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to focus upon the financial performance of firms that maintain headquarters in the largest cities and firms based in smaller metropolitan areas. Big city locations offer numerous opportunities. On the other hand, maintaining headquarters in big cities is more costly than in less congested locations and the opportunities for distractions tend to be higher. A third alternative is that location does not matter.Design/methodology/approach– The study, the first of its type, applies a multivariate analysis to a large sample of Compustat firms. The analysis tests for the industry-adjusted return on investment as a function of population density.Findings– The results, which are both statistically and economically significant, show that firms headquartered in smaller cities tend to outperform those located in major business centers.Practical implications– These results suggest at least two implications for financial managers. One is that headquarters location should be considered as a key element of financial management strategy. The second is that businesses should very carefully consider decisions to move headquarters to the very largest cities.Originality/value– Theory suggests that business success should increase with the size of the city. This paper, the first large-sample examination of major US firms, shows that businesses with headquarters in smaller locations tend to enjoy greater financial success.

This article examines the substantial housing stock declines between 2000 and 2010 in many major US central cities. It updates an analysis first formulated in the 1970s, of an S-shaped housing supply curve, to explain decreases in absolute housing stocks. Explanatory variables include Metropolitan Statistical Area standardized rents, center city prior occupancy rates, regional unemployment rates, and a set of regional and state dummy variables. The analysis provides strong evidence of a lower tail of the S, and more tentative evidence of an upper tail. Market fundamentals explain a considerable portion of the large housing stock losses, but in several cities loss of dwelling units and housing abandonment were worse than could be explained by the fundamentals.

This study contributes to the literature on applied urban geography by examining spatial patterns and processes of changing racial/ethnic diversity within the intra-urban context of Knoxville metropolitan statistical area. Knoxville embraces a diverse economic set up with opportunities in high-tech research and development, manufacturing, tertiary/service-sectors, construction, as well as entertainment industry. This serves well for its continued population growth, including minorities during 1990–2009. This paper explores how the neighborhood-level socioeconomic, demographic, and built-environment characteristics relate to tract-level racial/ethnic diversity, measured by multi-group diversity score and its components. Tools such as isarithmic surface density maps, correlations, principal components and regression analyses are used to examine processes of change. Results indicate that diversity in 1990 associates with negative change whereas diversity in 2000 associates with positive change. Though overall diversity sprawls and increases during 1990–2009, diversity among non-White declines during 2000–2009 and shows spatial confinement. Regressions suggest complicated mosaics of changing neighborhoods, providing evidence of invasion-succession, filtering and resurgence of ethnic-enclaves in specific neighborhoods. Concerning the six counties of the MSA, Knox is the most diverse whereas Union the least, though the share of Hispanics tops in Loudon and Asians in Knox. In terms of strategic planning, findings from this research can be used in creating equitable and sustainable urban communities that can improve the overall well-being of people by reducing racial/ethnic and socio-economic disparities that might occur as undesirable consequences of fast increasing diversity.

We study whether foreign banks increased or decreased lending in the United States during the 1990-1991, 2001, and 2007-2009 recessions. Using a matched sample of foreign banks paired with domestic banks, univariate tests show that commercial and industrial loans by foreign banks increased in the 1990-1991 recession, decreased in the 2001 recession, and marginally increased in the 2007-2009 recession. Since recessions have differential impacts in an economy, we tested the lending behavior using granular data at the local metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level. Multivariate test results show that foreign branches engaged in countercyclical lending in the 1990 and 2001 recessions and foreign subsidiaries in the 2008 recession by lending in MSAs where GDP was falling or unemployment increasing. We conclude foreign banks continue to play a positive role in the American economy.

Efforts to estimate the effect of having more school districts (i.e., having more competition among school districts) have been hampered by the difficulty of finding a good instrument for the number of school districts. We identify 9 states in which the state requires that the school districts be county-wide or state-wide; these laws have been in place for almost 7 decades. In states with no restrictions on the formation of school districts, larger metropolitan areas have more school districts, and thus more inter-district competition. As expected, student test scores are higher in larger metro areas that do not require county-wide or state-wide districts. On the other hand, test scores are no higher in large metro areas than in small metro areas in states that prohibit any rise in the number of districts as the metro area grows.

In this paper we analyze the relationship between turnover-driven growth and subjective well-being. Our model of innovation-led growth and unemployment predicts that: (i) the effect of creative destruction on expected individual welfare should be unambiguously positive if we control for unemployment, less so if we do not; (ii) job creation has a positive and job destruction has a negative impact on well-being; (iii) job destruction has a less negative impact in areas with more generous unemployment insurance policies; and (iv) job creation has a more positive effect on individuals that are more forward-looking. The empirical analysis using cross-sectional MSA (metropolitan statistical area) -level and individual-level data provide empirical support to these predictions.

Latino workers have been particularly vulnerable to labor trafficking into New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast. Prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Gulf Coast states already had a growing Latino population. Before Katrina, Latinos made up 4.4 percent of the overall population in the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The sudden change in demographics and the dire financial circumstances of local residents led to a rising fear that migrant Latinos would "steal" jobs from resident New Orleanians. It was not only the suspension of worker protection legislation that created the ideal scenario for human trafficking in the Gulf region. Employers seeking inexpensive labor could call upon international recruiters to stock their labor pools with international guest workers under the provisions of H-2B. It also aims to bring attention to guest worker exploitation and the occurrence of debt bondage and indentured servitude that has resulted from lax enforcement of labor law.

Objectives Latino immigrants continue to enter low-skilled urban labor markets across metropolitan areas in the United States. This study provides a dynamic account of the employment competition between Latino immigrant and black workers in the context of an emerging immigrant gateway: the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area. Methods This study identifies occupational niches that Latino immigrants and black workers heavily concentrate for years 1990, 2000, and 2008. Occupational-level composition and wage models are also estimated to test for the impact Latino immigration might have on black workers. Results Both black workers and Latino immigrant workers became increasingly concentrated in a few occupations between 1990 and 2008. While Latino immigrants have entered several historically black occupational niches, no downward pressure on the wage growth of blacks in the same occupation is observed. Conclusions As immigrants become increasingly clustered in manual-intensive craftsmen, operative, and farm occupations, blacks gravitate toward the better-paid and language-intensive sales, clerical, and service occupations, forming a segmented low-skill labor market. The reinforcement of their respective niches also tends to create closure to the other groups and intensify within-group competition.

Recent environmental justice studies have emphasized the growing need to analyze the health impacts of disproportionate exposure to multiple pollution sources and incorporate geostatistical techniques that are suitable for analyzing spatial data. These objectives are addressed in a case study that evaluates spatial and social inequities in potential cancer risk from inhalation exposure to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) from four types of emission sources in the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area, Florida. This study utilizes modeled estimates of lifetime cancer risk from the 1999 National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment and socio-demographic data from the 2000 US Census. Statistical analyses are based on conventional multiple regression and locally derived spatial regression models that account for residual autocorrelation. Race, ethnicity, and home ownership are found to be significant predictors of cancer risk from ambient exposure to all four HAP source categories, after controlling for other relevant explanatory factors and spatial dependence in the data.

SUMMARY Using a large sample of audit client firms, this paper investigates whether and how the geographic proximity between auditor and client affects audit quality proxied by accrual-based earnings quality. We define an auditor as a local auditor (1) if the auditor's practicing office is located in the same metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as the client's headquarters, and (2) if the geographic distance between the two cities where the auditor's practicing office and the client's headquarters are located is within 100 kilometers, or they are in the same MSA. As predicted, our empirical results are consistent with local auditors providing higher-quality audit services than non-local auditors. In addition, as predicted, this quality difference is weakened for diversified clients with more operating or geographic segments. The results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks. Overall, our evidence suggests that informational advantages associated with local audits enable auditors to better constrain management's biased earnings reporting, with greater advantages for less diversified clients. JEL Classification: M42.

This study uses data collected from multi-state interviews, document review, and the U.S. Census to provide a national perspective on the policies and practice guidelines for mental health evaluation and psychotropic medication oversight among youth in foster care within 47 states and the District of Columbia. This study specifically employs descriptive statistics and logistic regression models to examine various components of these policies/guidelines and the state characteristics and organizational structure associated with the presence of a policy/guideline for mental health evaluation and psychotropic medication oversight. Almost half of states (47.9%) endorsed a mental health evaluation in policies/guidelines; policies/guidelines varied with respect to specific sub-populations targeted and the components of the evaluation. Over half of states (52.7%) held policies/guidelines for psychotropic medication oversight with substantial variation in populations and medications covered, and in the mechanism for psychotropic medication oversight (e.g., informed consent, child- and population-level monitoring). Organizational structure, specifically staffing both a medical and mental health director, and percentage of urban land area (i.e., Metropolitan Statistical Area) were associated with presence of policies/guidelines. Implications for federal and state implementation of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (Public Law 110–351) and future research on child welfare policy are discussed.

Gated communities have grown in importance in the United States in recent years and they are also common in many other countries. Relatively little is known about the factors and tradeoffs associated with the preferences of households to live in such communities. There is a popular perception of gated communities being refuges for higher income and higher status predominantly white households in the United States but this appears to be largely incorrect. The profile of those who live in gated communities is the focus of this study. Homeowners living in gated communities are analyzed separately from renters, and are compared with those living in nongated communities, with special attention to location within the metropolitan statistical area and housing features. The factors that affect their respective decisions appear to be different. Residence in gated communities is ‘purchased’ both in the form of higher prices and rents, but also in the form of trading off some housing features, such as settling for smaller units with fewer bedrooms, for ‘gatedness’. The role of other factors in affecting likelihood of living in gated communities, including income, education, and some other factors associated with socioeconomic status, is explored using logit analysis. Those living in the urban subregions of the metropolitan statistical areas (the central city and secondary cities) have the highest likelihood of choosing gated communities, other things being equal. Somewhat surprisingly, people do not seem to be choosing gated communities in order to shorten their commuting distances. Despite the media stereotypes, racial minorities are often over-represented in gated communities for all minority groups for both forms of housing tenure (ownership and renting). Income disparities between whites and blacks are generally narrower within gated communities than they are outside of them. Within racial groups, income diversity, as measured by standard deviations, is greater in gated communities than outside of them, indicating greater heterogeneity.

Evidence of the association between income inequality and mortality has been mixed. Studies indicate that growing income inequalities reflect inequalities between, rather than within, racial groups. Racial segregation may play a role. We examine the role of racial segregation on the relationship between income inequality and mortality in a cross-section of US metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas were included if they had a population of at least 100,000 and were at least 10% black (N = 107). Deaths for the time period 1991-1999 were used to calculate age-adjusted all-cause mortality rates for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) using direct age-adjustment techniques. Multivariate least squares regression was used to examine associations for the total sample and for blacks and whites separately. Income inequality was associated with lower mortality rates among whites and higher mortality rates among blacks. There was a significant interaction between income inequality and racial segregation. A significant graded inverse income inequality/mortality association was found for MSAs with higher versus lower levels of black-white racial segregation. Effects were stronger among whites than among blacks. A positive income inequality/mortality association was found in MSAs with higher versus lower levels of Hispanic-white segregation. Uncertainty regarding the income inequality/mortality association found in previous studies may be related to the omission of important variables such as racial segregation that modify associations differently between groups. Research is needed to further elucidate the risk and protective effects of racial segregation across groups.