Stephan Weiler

Dodging the glass ceiling? Networks and the new wave of women entrepreneurs

Abstract Openings of women-owned businesses have radically accelerated recently. This paper explores the causes and results of this phenomenon. Noting the predictive weaknesses of the canonical neoclassical perspective, an extended institutional framework incorporating the impact of male-dominated networks seems to better explain women’s situations in both the traditional and entrepreneurial labor markets. Theoretical and empirical evidence points to the paradoxically obstructive role of information networks as the source of women’s market difficulties. In the light of this, the paper considers possible motivations for the continued influx of women to entrepreneurship and its potential implications for women’s economic status.

Entrepreneurs and Job Growth: Probing the Boundaries of Time and Space

Although scholars have long emphasized the importance of entrepreneurs to long-term growth prospects, entrepreneurship often receives less attention by policy makers than traditional industrial recruitment efforts as regional growth engines. The effects of entrepreneurship may be more subtle than the latter approaches, but business creation can have significant effects across both space and time. This article first sketches the important relationship between innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth and then empirically assesses the relationship between entrepreneurship and job growth across U.S. labor market areas and counties. Three key findings emerge. First, entrepreneurship is systematically related to job growth; furthermore, this relationship increases in intensity over time. Second, entrepreneurship has the greatest impact on the county in which it occurs but also generates positive spillovers for job growth in neighboring counties. Finally, the impact of entrepreneurship is greater in denser, more urbanized settings where such businesses can leverage the advantages of a thick marketplace.

Children's blood lead and standardized test performance response as indicators of neurotoxicity in metropolitan New Orleans elementary schools

This study analyzes pre-Katrina variation in aggregate student performance and childrens blood lead (BPb) in 117 elementary school districts in metropolitan New Orleans. Fourth grade student achievement on Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) tests were analyzed as a function of BPb for children 1-6 years old within school districts, controlling for student-teacher ratios, percent of students eligible for a free or discounted lunch, and school racial demography. Measures of performance across subject areas (English Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies) include school Achievement Test Scores (ATS) and indices of agreement and variation in student achievement. ATS are measured on a 5-point scale, corresponding to achievement categories of advanced=5 to unsatisfactory=1. Regression results show that median BPb (microg/dL) and percent of children with BPb > or =10 microg/dL are significantly associated with reductions in test scores across all subjects and depress variation in student performance across achievement categories. These data suggest that assisting children with improved school performance requires alleviation of pre-school Pb exposure and its associated neurotoxic damage. Cost-benefit calculations suggest that it is more cost effective to pay for onetime primary prevention instead of paying continuous expenses focused on reversing neurotoxic damage.

Nonlinear associations between blood lead in children, age of child, and quantity of soil lead in metropolitan New Orleans

Previous studies identified a curvilinear association between aggregated blood lead (BL) and soil lead (SL) data in New Orleans census tracts. In this study we investigate the relationships between SL (mg/kg), age of child, and BL (μg/dL) of 55,551 children in 280 census tracts in metropolitan New Orleans, 2000 to 2005. Analyses include random effects regression models predicting BL levels of children (μg/dL) and random effects logistic regression models predicting the odds of BL in children exceeding 15, 10, 7, 5, and 3 μg/dL as a function of age and SL exposure. Economic benefits of SL reduction scenarios are estimated. A unit raise in median SL⁰·⁵ significantly increases the BL level in children (b=0.214 p= or <0.01), and a unit change in Age⁰·⁵ significantly increases child BL (b=0.401, p= or <0.01). A unit change in Age⁰·⁵ increases the odds of a child BL exceeding 10 μg/dL by a multiplicative factor of 1.23 (95% CI 1.21 to 1.25), and a unit (mg/kg) addition of SL increases the odds of child BL> 10 μg/dL by a factor of 1.13 (95% CI 1.12 to 1.14). Extrapolating from regression results, we find that a shift in SL regulatory standard from 400 to 100 mg/kg provides each child with an economic benefit ranging from

New Orleans before and after Hurricanes Katrina/Rita: A Quasi-Experiment of the Association between Soil Lead and Children’s Blood Lead

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Information and Market Failure in Local Economic Development: A New Role for Universities?

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A Note on the Geographic Interdependencies of Retail Market Areas

US 2000). Childrens BL is a curvilinear function of both age and level of exposure to neighborhood SL. Therefore, a change in SL regulatory standard from 400 to 100mg/kg provides children with substantial economic benefit.

Economics of disaster risk, social vulnerability, and mental health resilience.

Prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (HKR), significant associations were noted between soil lead (SL) and blood lead (BL) in New Orleans. Engineering failure of New Orleans levees and canal walls after HKR set the stage for a quasi-experiment to evaluate BL responses by 13 306 children to reductions in SL. High density soil surveying conducted in 46 census tracts before HKR was repeated after the flood. Paired t test results show that SL decreased from 328.54 to 203.33 mg/kg post-HKR (t = 3.296, p < or = 0.01). Decreases in SL are associated with declines in childrens BL response (r = 0.308, p < or = 0.05). When SL decreased at least 1%, median childrens BL declined 1.55 microg/dL. Declines in median BL are largest in census tracts with > or =50% decrease in SL. Also individual BL in children was predicted as a function of SL, adjusting for age, year of observation, and depth of flood waters. At the individual scale, BL decreased significantly in post-HKR as a function of SL, with BL decreases ranging from b = -1.20 to -1.65 microg/dL, depending on the decline of SL and whether children were born in the post-HKR period. Our results support policy to improve soil conditions for children.

Maternal Hurricane Exposure and Fetal Distress Risk

One of the crucial assumptions regarding the efficiency of the private market is that all involved actors have full information about market opportunities, costs, and benefits. However, this assumption is likely to be only partially fulfilled in many local economic development efforts. In fact, those who stand to benefit most from such efforts may be least able to secure critical information regarding development possibilities. In contrast to most publicly supported top-down initiatives, university researchers may more effectively enhance local development by focusing on the provision and analysis of information to private participants. This article first explores the twin potential information gaps involved in regional industrial development that may affect both private and social investment perspectives. The recent efforts to add value to the highly vulnerable agricultural sector of Colorado’s San Luis Valley then highlight the potential direct economic and indirect methodological impact of such assistance.

Employment Risk, Returns, and Entrepreneurship

Central place theory describes an orderly hierarchy of places, with particular retail services developing for lower-ordered places as they reach a threshold. Yet it is likely that nearby areas could serve simultaneously as a source of demand and a source of competing supply for retail stores in a place. This paper contributes to the understanding of local economic development by modeling and estimating the geographic interdependence between a place and its neighboring areas. The simultaneous equation Tobit results suggest that such geographical interdependence exists for most retail industries, with spatial competition on the supply side being particularly important.