Edward Feser

Tracing the sources of local external economies

In a cross-sectional, establishment-level analysis using confidential secondary data, the paper evaluates the influence of commonly postulated sources of localised external economies-supplier access, labour pools and knowledge spillovers-on the productivity of two US manufacturing sectors (farm and garden machinery and measuring and controlling devices). Measures incorporating different distance-decay specifications provide evidence of the spatial extent of the various externality sources. Chinitzs (1961) hypothesis of the link between local industrial organisation and agglomeration economies is also investigated. The results show evidence of labour-pooling economies and university-linked knowledge spillovers in the case of the higher-technology measuring and controlling devices sector, while access to input supplies and location near centres of applied innovation positively influences efficiency in the farm and garden machinery industry. Both sectors benefit from proximity to producer services, although primarily at a regional rather than a highly localised scale.

Why some rural places prosper and others do not

More than 300 rural counties are more prosperous than the nation. Each has lower unemployment rates, lower poverty rates, lower school dropout rates, and better housing conditions than the nation. Prosperous counties tend to have more educated populations, more diverse economies, more private non-farm jobs, more farmers and government farm payments, more creative class occupations, and more equal income distributions. They have fewer African-American, American Indian, or Hispanic residents and fewer recent immigrants. Some findings support what many rural people believe to be true: civically engaged religious groups and other identities that bind people together can really matter. Other results contradict conventional wisdom. For instance, climate and distances to cities and major airports, are relatively unimportant. Focusing on prosperity, instead of growth or competitiveness, provides new insights into rural conditions and prospects.

Enterprises, external economies, and economic development

There has recently been a revival of interest in the planning community in the role of interfirm synergies, externalities, and spillovers as sources of competitive advantage for groups of colocated businesses (e.g., in industrial districts, clusters, and complexes). An increasing number of cities and states are adopting a variety of economic development planning initiatives based on the advantages of geographic concentration. This article reviews and critiques the central theoretical and empirical approaches to the concept of spatial external economies and the firm, with a view toward clarifying the core range of definitions and perspectives. It suggests that these often competing perspectives must be better meshed to yield richer and more robust planning and policy prescriptions.

Cluster analysis as a mode of inquiry: Its use in science and technology policymaking in North Carolina

We argue that cluster analysis is best viewed as a general mode of inquiry rather than a narrow technical methodology in regional economic analysis. The perspective emphasizes the value of cluster studies as starting points for open discussions among public officials, business leaders, and the lay public about their values and priorities for economic development. We illustrate our thesis with reference to two cluster studies that are influencing technology-focused regional development and education policy in the State of North Carolina.

Out-Migration, Depopulation, And The Geography Of U.S. Economic Distress

This article uses data from the 1969 to 1999 period to examine the spatial extent and temporal persistence ofU.S. economic distress as viewed by three different indicators: unemployment, low income, and out-migration-induced population decline. The basic unit of analysis is the commuter zone. The shifting geography of distress is summarized for the four census regions and three regions of traditional economic development concern. The research grew out of an effort to assist the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) in a review of criteria used to target development assistance. EDA was concerned that it may be neglecting distress associated with out-migration-induced population decline; that is, that some regions may be deserving of development aid even if their level of distress appears moderate based on the traditional core criteria: low income and high unemployment. The authors address the practical and theoretical issues associated with out-migration-induced population decline as a type of economic distress and comment on the development priorities implied by each of the three indicators.

An Experiment in the Internationalization of Planning Education The NEURUS Program

This article describes a new multi-institutional program in international planning education and exchange—the Network for European-U.S. Regional and Urban Studies—within the broader context of the continuing internationalization of graduate-level professional planning curricula. Using student exit interviews and an institutional survey, the outcomes and impacts of this program on participating students, on the departments involved, and on the partner universities are assessed. Program experiences to date in terms of lessons for planning education in an increasingly integrated world economy are highlighted.

On the State of the Geography in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Covered Wages and Employment (ES-202) Series

This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the confidential establishment-level Covered Wages and Employment (ES-202) data series for small area economic analyses and other kinds of quantitative geographical research. The article examines the improvements in the geographic identifiers in the file over the past decade based on analysis of confidential micro data for forty-six states. It also examines the extent of spatial censoring in the ES-202 file stemming from two sources: (1) missing or corrupt physical address information in the raw data and (2) failure to attach spatial identifiers (geocode latitude/longitude coordinates) to physical addresses. Results of geocoding tests show that samples of address-matched units from state ES-202 files are likely to be biased along several dimensions. The article argues that a key area of geographical research in the future is methods to address bias in administrative samples. Research along these lines would substantially improve the usefulness of confidential micro data series for regional science research.

Entrepreneurship education in the research-intensive entrepreneurial university

Knowledge commercialisation and commodification are important components of universities’ “Third Mission” to contribute to the development of their home regions by strengthening their engagement with the public, private, and third sectors. Entrepreneurship education programmes have tended to develop in parallel to such “entrepreneurial university” initiatives, rather than in intentional alignment with them. This is reflected in the research literature as well, where the analysis of the “entrepreneurial university” and studies of entrepreneurship education have little overlap. This paper examines the evolution of the entrepreneurship education initiative of a single research-intensive institution—the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom— and the ways in which that initiative have contributed to the broader entrepreneurial and commercial engagement objectives of the university. The Manchester case suggests that research-intensive universities that wish to bring entrepreneurship education and knowledge commercialisation and commodification into effective and beneficial alignment face challenges that require determined strategies to overcome.