Economic Development Quarterly

This study investigates how service delivery of employment-related federal programs administered at American Job Centers (AJCs) changes as local unemployment increases. The authors analyze the impact of such changes on labor market outcomes of program participants using data for the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) participants. The authors find that the demand for TAA services increases substantially when local unemployment increases. A 5% to 10% increase in unemployment raises training enrollment through the TAA program by nearly 13 percentage points and increases participation duration by more than 9 weeks. Our results do not support the concern that a sudden rise in the demand for AJC services might deteriorate the quality of service delivery and outcomes. In fact, although increases in local unemployment are generally harmful to displaced workers, occupational training during this time is effective at reducing the size of wage loss by at least 46%, resulting in a 3.4% average increase for wage replacement rates.

The triple bottom line refers to economic, environmental, and social value of an investment and is related to the concept of sustainable development. The triple bottom line is increasingly salient to economic development related disciplines, yet the topic has received little attention within the field of economic development. This study offers three substantive responses to that gap. First, triple bottom line economic development is introduced and defined. Second, research regarding whether and how practitioners prioritize and engage in triple bottom line economic development is presented. Third, implications for the field are considered, including the centrality of the concept to economic development and recommendations to advance theory and practice in this regard.

Proponents of social capital theory have long argued that it is not only in the best interest of civic life to build social capital but that social capital is vital for the economic health of communities. Yet past studies have failed to distinguish among different types of social capital and have relied on inaccurate measures of economic health. This study reexamines what has become conventional wisdom by analyzing the social capital of American metropolitan areas and its impact on economic well-being. It improves on past studies by examining different types of social capital (i.e., trust, group membership, social networks) and substituting the change in competitive-advantage jobs from shift-share analysis for total job growth and other traditional economic development measures of wealth creation. The study finds that bridging social capital positively affects the economic welfare of communities with respect to job creation.

Scholars focus on interstate competition and intrastate economic conditions as the primary determinants of state economic development policies, including direct subsidies. New data from the Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker illustrates large differences in subsidy spending across the states and that established firms are the disproportionate beneficiaries. In light of this new evidence, we argue that the political presence of the business sector within the state is an important determinant of state subsidy spending. A large political presence helps forward industry interests before government and has the potential to capture state governments. We find support for the cultural capture model by demonstrating that a greater number of lobbyists and campaign contributions from businesses leads to more subsidy spending, all else equal. We conclude that subsidies, and which companies receive them, are a product of both politics and economics.

This study examines whether state movie production incentives are effective in attracting and/or retaining movie production. The issue is of significant policy interest because of the large amounts spent by states for such subsidies. This study finds that while movie production incentives were effective in increasing the number of film production employment and establishments for a few states such as New York and California from 1998 to 2011, there was no discernable increase across all states. Much of this noneffect appears because of a “crowding out” effect due to the sheer number of states with incentives.

In 2005, the Supreme Court’s Kelo v. New London ruling reaffirmed governments’ right to use eminent domain for economic development purposes. Widespread public backlash over the ruling resulted in numerous states quickly passing laws restricting the use of eminent domain for such purposes. This study uses the swift and uneven response of state legislatures to the public outcry that followed Kelo to test the empirical question of whether restrictions on eminent domain affect states’ ability to fulfill their economic development goals. Results indicate that states that restricted the use of eminent domain following the Kelo ruling experienced no adverse effects in terms of state employment and gross state product or county employment and county income in the states’ most dense counties.