Donald Elliott

Has Riverboat Gambling Reduced State Lottery Revenue

Over the past decade, most states have introduced lotteries, and many now license casinos. To what extent does the presence of licensed casinos cannibalize revenues from state-sponsored lotteries? To what extent does pari-mutuel betting cannibalize revenues from state-sponsored lotteries? Based on pooled cross-section data for the period from 1989 to 1995, this research reveals significant cannibalization of lottery revenues by both casinos and pari-mutuel betting. Nevertheless, states, in general, gain by having both lotteries and casinos. In the case of pari-mutuel betting, however, the substitution is so severe that, at existing effective tax rates, lost lottery revenues outweigh states’ receipts from pari-mutuel betting.

Measuring the economic impact of institutions of higher education

Frequently institutions of higher education commission formal studies to measure their short-term economic impact on the surrounding regions. The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss several of the methodological considerations which arise in the design and use of economic impact studies, as well as to present new evidence regarding the effectiveness of alternative survey methods for collecting the personal expenditure data frequently used in such studies. The survey results suggest that mail surveys may yield more accurate responses regarding important personal financial information than more costly telephone interviews. This paper also offers some guidance in the design of economic impact studies and points out some of the increasing pressures to integrate studies of short-term economic impacts with analysis of higher educations impact on long-term regional economic development.

The Senior Project: Using the Literature of Distinguished Economists

Senior capstone experiences can serve multiple purposes. Properly designed, they can assist students who are about to graduate to reflect on their baccalaureate journey, integrate general education with their major field of study, and demonstrate their mastery of disciplinary methods, oral and written communication skills, and critical thinking. Senior experiences are offered in several alternative formats, including the senior honors thesis, but honors theses are not necessarily appropriate for all students or all institutions. We introduce here another alternative: an active-learning project in which senior economics majors, guided by a team of faculty mentors, research topics linking the works of distinguished economists (e.g., selected Nobel laureates in economics and American Economic Association [AEA] presidents) with important objectives of general education. Such projects require majors to use their disciplinary skills to read, interpret, and apply original seminal contributions to the field; to contrast economic perspectives with the perspectives of other disciplines; to appraise the contributions and limitations of alternative ways of knowing; and to demonstrate their oral and written communication skills in a final assessment before graduation. We advocate such an approach as one of several options that could be made available to senior economics majors as a capstone exercise. We provide sample curriculum materials for those faculty who might wish to implement such a program and review recent literature critical of baccalaureate education in general and the economics major in particular. We then describe the senior project developed for economics majors at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE). We provide an example from an annotated bibliography that includes biographies of selected laureates and AEA presidents, lists of their selected works accessible to most undergraduates, and suggested topics for senior projects relating their works to issues addressed in general education. (The bibliography is available on request from the authors.)

A framework for evaluating public investment in urban libraries

Along with most public institutions, public libraries are under attack for being socially unresponsive and economically unworthy of public funds. Looks at how urban libraries can defend their case by considering three main points: selecting appropriate methodology; building a framework for benefit‐cost analysis; and assessing necessary research. Concludes that continued research is very important as library resources are always changing. Proposes a pilot project to estimate direct and external benefits from public investment in library resources in one sector of library operations.

Maintenance Effort and the Professional Landlord: An Empirical Critique of Theories of Neighborhood Decline*

Most theories of neighborhood decline assume a reduction in expenditures for repair and maintenance of housing. Findings reported in this paper suggest that this view is overly simplistic. Based on analysis of 127 low-income rental properties in the city of St. Louis, Missouri during the 1960s and early 1970s, the authors find that in most cases expenditures for repair and maintenance increased in the face of declining rents. While not totally discounting the standard theories, this paper sets forth an alternative description of low-income property management in neighborhoods undergoing decline. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Maintenance Behavior of Large-Scale Landlords and Theories of Neighborhood Succession

This study integrates theories of landlord maintenance behavior with theories of neighborhood succession in a unified empirical model. The model permits a broad range of landlord responses to neighborhood decline including the possibility of increased maintenance expenditure as reported in recent empirical studies. Hypotheses are tested using a micro-data set descriptive of 117 St. Louis rental properties. Copyright American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.