Edward W. Hill

A Methodology for Identifying the Drivers of Industrial Clusters: The Foundation of Regional Competitive Advantage

This article presents a theoretically based method for identifying the clusters of industries in which a region has a competitive advantage. The method combines cluster analysis with discriminant analysis, using variables derived from economic base theory and measures of productivity, to identify the industries in which a region has its greatest competitive advantage. These industries are called driver industries because they drive the region’s economy. The driver industries are linked to supplier and customer industries with information from a region-specific input-output model to form industry clusters. After introductory comments about cluster-based approaches to understanding regional economies, the authors present an overview of their method and the variables used. They then apply this method to the Cleveland-Akron Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Can Suburbs Survive without their Central Cities? Examining the Suburban Dependence Hypothesis

Based on recent findings that changes in average suburban incomes are positively associated with changes in average central-city incomes, some have concluded that disparities between central cities and their suburbs cause decline in metropolitan economic growth. The authors argue that causality runs in the other direction—metropolitan-wide growth narrows disparities. The authors argue that cities and suburbs are interdependent, that there can be healthy individual suburbs and weak central cities, and that there can be healthy suburbs in the aggregate and extremely poor central cities.

What is a Central City in the United States? Applying a Statistical Technique for Developing Taxonomies

We test the null hypothesis that municipalities defined as central cities by the US Bureau of the Census in 1990 are homogeneous-a hypothesis we reject. Rather, we find that US central cities consist of 2 distinct subsets of municipalities that are aggregated from 13 cluster groupings. The article has two purposes. The first is methodological. We develop a method that uses cluster analysis to group US central cities; then we employ discriminant analysis to establish the statistical validity of those groups. We also develop techniques to minimise the role of judgement in selecting the appropriate cluster solution. The second purpose of the article is to test the substantive null hypothesis. Our rejection of the homogeneity assumption raises the spectre of specification error in research and public policies that assume homogeneity among central cities.

Understanding the Economic Performance of Metropolitan Areas in the United States

Examining the drivers of metropolitan economic performance, this paper models two dependent variables: change from 1990 to 2000 in gross metropolitan product and MSA employment. It is found that initial-year economic structure (an above average share of manufacturing employment), agglomeration economies, human capital (share of population with bachelor degrees or higher), and presence of state right-to-work laws are positively and significantly related to GMP and employment growth, while the economic age of the area, percentage of Black non-Hispanic residents and average wage at the beginning of the period are negatively and significantly related to both. The regional dummy variables commonly used to explain economic growth, and typically highly significant, are augmented by including climate-related amenity, business environment and economic age. When these three variables are included in the model as independent variables with the regional dummy variables, all three are significant for growth in GMP and the significance of region largely disappears.

Evaluating the success of urban success stories: Is reputation a guide to best practice?

Abstract Do the reputations of central cities that have reportedly revitalized match reality? Can reputation alone be used to select best practices in urban public policy? In replicating research conducted a decade ago, we asked a panel of urban and economic development experts to identify, out of the universe of large, distressed central cities in 1990, those that had successfully revitalized between 1990 and 2000. We compared the performance of these successful cities with the performance of cities not perceived to be successful on a composite index of the change in the economic well‐being of residents from 1990 to 2000, as well as on a weighted index of economic, social, fiscal, and demographic change between 1990 and 2000. Regardless of which index was used, there was a low correlation between reputation and reality. We draw lessons from this experiment on relying on best practice reputations in formulating and propagating public policies.

Did Central Cities Come Back? Which Ones, How Far, and Why?

ABSTRACT: Much has been made of the revival of distressed cities during the 1990s, yet how much of this asserted revival really worked its way down to residents? We find that residents of distressed central cities were generally worse off in 2000 than in 1980. We construct an index of the economic well-being of central city residents for the 98 central cities that had at least 125,000 residents in 1980 with metropolitan area populations of at least 250,000. We then compare the change in the economic well-being of residents of the 33 cities with the lowest index scores in 1980 against (1) their own performance over this time period, (2) the performance of the 65 non-distressed central cities, and (3) the performance of the nation. In the third section we build regression models of change in the index and of each index component to determine what explains the change in economic well-being of city residents.

The Impact of the Reputation of Bio-Life Science and Engineering Doctoral Programs on Regional Economic Development

Retrospective data on the academic reputation of PhD programs in the biological and life sciences and engineering are used in regression models to measure the influence of academic quality on the growth in employment and in per capita income for metropolitan areas in the United States over the two parts of the recently completed business cycle (1994 to 2000 and 2001 to 2003). The quality of doctoral research programs in science and technology fields was positively associated with growth rates in employment and per capita income in metropolitan areas during the expansion phase of the business cycle. Regions with quality science and technology doctoral programs experienced declines in employment growth rates following the recession. There was an inverse relationship between academic quality and per capita income following the recession, indicating that regional earnings bubbles built up during the expansion. Strong path dependencies are exhibited in the models.

City-Suburban Income Disparities and Metropolitan Area Employment Can Tightening Labor Markets Reduce the Gaps?

Were tight metropolitan labor markets in 1990 associated with narrow spatial income disparities between central cities and their suburbs? In U.S. national policy, it is assumed that maintaining high levels of national economic growth will attract inner-city poverty populations into the world of work, thereby reducing suburban-city income gaps. The authors examine the impact of tight labor markets on these disparities by developing regression models for metropolitan statistical areas. Economic growth, fostering tighter labor markets, is clearly desirable. However, tightening local labor markets actually exacerbates disparities to a point. Past that point disparities begin to decrease, but at a very slow rate.

Accounting for the Change in Income Disparities between US Central Cities and their Suburbs from 1980 to 1990

In this paper we are concerned with the widely acknowledged policy problem of substantially higher levels of per capita income in suburban areas of US metropolitan areas compared to that of their central cities. We focus on causes of changes in this per capita income gap from 1980 to 1990 (for those metropolitan areas where such a gap existed in 1980) in an effort to determine what factors are associated with narrowing of these disparities. We do so by first describing the relationship between central-city and suburban per capita income across American metropolitan areas in 1980 and 1990. We review the connection between the operation of metropolitan labour markets and changes in suburban-central-city income disparities. We then develop regression models of changes in income disparities for all 111 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with populations of at least 250 000 in 1980 and where suburban per capita income exceeded central-city per capita income in 1980. This is followed by a summary of the results.

Principles for Rethinking the Federal Government's Role in Economic Development

This article begins with a discussion of differences between economic and community development. A three-dimensional policy frame work for analyzing subnational economic development policy is presented One dimension consists of the goals of efficiency and equity. The confusion between the equity objectives of poverty alleviation and helping distressed communities is explained The second dimension includes three sets of government and market failures that are rationales for federal intervention-provision of public goods, the mismatch in political and economic federalisms, and the mismatch between political and economic time horizons. The third dimension is the funding mechanisms for development programs-people, places, and people through places. The last section contains recommendations for restructuring federal policy.