James S. Fisher

Extended and internal commuting in the transformation of the intermetropolitian periphery.

This paper assesses the roles played by extended and internal commuting in urbanizing the intermetropolitan periphery by studying 4 standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs) in northeast Georgia (GA) and adjacent South Carolina (SC). Extended commuting is worker movements across county boundaries from nonmetropolitan areas to metropolitan areas. Internal commuting is worker movements such that origin and destination counties both lie within the intermetropolitan periphery. In the US, nonmetropolitan population growth rates now exceed those of metropolitan areas. 2 frequent interpretations of this trend are that nonmetropolitan growth is 1) decentralized resulting from metropolitan spread and 2) partially independent of metropolitian influence. The study uses commuting destinations from the 4 SMSAs (Atlanta, Macon, and Augusta, GA, and Greenville, SC), their respective central cities, and selected internal or intervening opportunity centers within the intermetropolitan periphery. Extended commuting fields were identified for both 1960 and 1970 using 0, 5, and 10% isolines; this paper only includes 0 and 5% isolines. There is an modest expansion of the 5% lines by 1970 for each region, indicating the extension of metropolitan influence. Growth is most apparent in larger centers such as Gainseville, Athens, and Conyers. By 1970, the 5% isolines show extreme cases of overlapping commuting fields. Residents of such zones interact significantly with more than 1 center; therefore, urbanization of the intermetropolitan area occurs both in response to metropolitan spread and the internal growth processes extending the influence of internal centers. Population growth within this nonmetropolitan area is linked to metropolitan center expansion and commuting to smaller internal growth centers plays an equally important role. 76% of county divisions within 15 miles of a metropolitan or internal growth center and 48% at distances of 15-35 miles experienced population increases over 5% from 1960-1970; 74% outside of 35 miles experienced losses exceeding 5%. Thus, nonmetropolitan growth is more than just spread of metropolitan areas into nonmetropolitan areas. The proximity of the internal centers and the increasing overlap of commuter fields supports the convergence of an urban system in which the smaller urban centers become integrated through a set of horizontal linkages. Nonmetropolitan growth may reflect the emergence of such a system.

Forces of Change in the American Settlement Pattern

The population turnaround occurred when growth rates of [U.S] nonmetropolitan areas began to exceed those of metropolitan regions. [The authors] interpret the change to be a consequence of metropolitan spread and growth processes internal to nonmetropolitan areas. The forces contributing to the current growth processes include dispersal of economic opportunity cultural preference and governmental policy. Scarcity of energy and its rising cost are not likely to reverse current trends. Continued growth in nonmetropolitan areas and in small metropolitan centers may produce a dispersed-city development that will coexist with the present hierarchical urban system. (EXCERPT)

Long Distance Commuting and Income Change in the Towns of Upstate New York

Long distance commuting to all levels of the urban hierarchy is a mechanism by which income growth is spread to nonmetropolitan peripheries. Attendant income growth multipliers are variable with distance from metropolitan employment centers, but because of off-setting forces of insulation and threshold, the maximum multipliers are found at intermediate distances from a metropolitan center. The increasing potency of multipliers from the 1960s to the 1970s and extension of income growth to greater distances are influenced by in-migration, job substitution, and increased female participation rates.

High hopes for high tech : microelectronics policy in North Carolina

North Carolina is one of the states that specifically targeted industrial development efforts toward the microelectronic industry and, in 1981, established an independent, nonprofit organization, the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina, dedicated to educational and research activity in this field of technology. This volume examines some of the planning and policy issues raised by the states efforts to attract the industry and details the objectives of its policy. Originally published 1986. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

COMMUTING COST VISIBILITY: A CONTEMPORARY CASE STUDY

The purpose ofthis paper is to present a case study ofcontemporary commuting cost visibility in a university community and to consider the potential impact on residential site selection vis a vis the workplace decision in an environment ofincreasing energy cost. The current trend of nonmetropolitan population growth at rates exceeding those of metropolitan areas can be expected to continue in response to a number of forces. (J) Yet some anticipate a reversal ofpopulation dispersal, largely as a response to increasing energy costs. (2) The impact of increasing energy cost on residential location decisions, and therefore the ensuing settlement systems, depends in part upon the extent to which the decision makers accurately assess such costs. Greater precision in measuring the contemporary role of commuting cost in the individuals location decision process is necessary for clarity on the issue of future American settlement and land use systems. BACKGROUND. Powerful forces are at work in reversing the long-established trend toward greater urban concentration. Nonmetropolitan growth rates now exceed those ofmetropolitan areas. The nature ofthis population turnaround, its root causes, and its anticipated impacts are already the subject of a rather extensive literature. One of the basic concerns about any migration is its impact. It has been argued that the almost institutionalized American rural out-migration of the past, while undoubtedly an economic and talent drain, was probably not as disruptive of prevailing social and spatial organization as will be the in-migration oflarger numbers ofpeople to the nonmetropolitan areas. (3) There will be gains in response to economic renewal, but impacts may also be anticipated from problems of social integration, the fiscal effects in response to increased service demands, and land utilization issues. A

LONG-DISTANCE COMMUTING AND POPULATION CHANGE IN NEW YORK STATE

Examination of the relation between population change and long-distance commuting in New York State reveals a major change from the 1960s to the 1970s. During the 1960s, the population growth of minor civil divisions was largely a function of the strength of employment linkages to metropolitan centers. The decade of the 1970s, however, revealed a significant change. Though net population growth was lower throughout much of New York, the shift in the locus of growth was particularly notable. Metropolitan linkages alone were no longer sufficient to assure growth; it was instead the areas with linkages to nonrnetropolitan centers or those with linkages to both which experienced the highest rates of growth. The urbanization of the intermetropolitan periphery continued through the 1970s, but nonmetropolitan employment centers played an increasing role in this process.

REGIONAL WAGE PRODUCTIVITY TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES

INTRODUCTION. The subject of labor productivity and its relation to United States industrial location patterns is receiving increased attention in both the academic and popular press. (J) Yankelovich reported that while the American work ethic is still intact, recent research suggests that labor no longer works as hard as it once did. (2) This perspective, if correct, corresponds with what seems to be a popular view that a wage-productivity imbalance in the United States is contributing to a hemorrhage ofjobs from Americas heartland to lower wage areas elsewhere in the United States and abroad. Yet research suggests that low-wage areas—e.g., the United States South—tend to be associated with regions of relatively low productivity. (3) This condition seems incongruent with the ability of areas such as the South to attract industry. Moomaw and Miller observed, however, that regional differences in wages may overcome differences in productivity, restoring the attractiveness of such low-wage areas to industry. (4) In other words, lower labor productivity, if existent, may be offset by lower wages. A relatively sophisticated body of research on labor productivity has appeared. (5) However, only limited research has been done on the issue of wage productivity, per se. The purpose of this study is to provide a preliminary assessment of the wage-productivity context in which regional industrial change has been occurring in the U.S. The central question addressed is whether evidence exists to suggest that regional wage-productivity differences relative to overall labor productivity may be contributing to postwar regional shifts in industrial capacity? Examination of this question should lead to further hypothesis generation. THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. The product life-cycle model is frequently used to provide a conceptual framework for explanation of