{"title":"Accounting for Aversion: Costs of the Renewable Fuel Standard after Reaching the Blend Wall","authors":"M. Noel, T. Roach","doi":"10.52324/001c.37968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.37968","url":null,"abstract":"In response to escalating renewable requirements in the U.S., the EPA has approved the use of E15, a 15% ethanol blend, to eventually replace E10. Since a minimum of 10% of vehicles cannot use E15, both E10 and E15 must remain available. Due to EPA and car manufacturers’ disagreements about the safety of E15 in cars made between 2001-2012, a substantial portion of consumers will have a choice laden with uncertainty. Using a regionally-calibrated model we discuss the potential for consumer aversion to E15 and assess the change in consumer expenditures from that aversion if the mandate is met by moving consumers to E15. We find that consumer burden would amount to nearly $230 million dollars per month in our most conservative of estimates, and upwards of $929 million dollars per month if there is a modest amount of ethanol aversion. We also discuss consumer burden costs regionally for each of the eight Petroleum Administration Defense Districts. In light of this consumer burden, we discuss policy prescriptions to help mitigate such costs should the EPA choose to increase the amount of conventional biofuels that are blended into the fuel supply.","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85353676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of State-Funded Merit Aid on the Retention of College Graduates","authors":"M. Manic, Marina Ptukhina","doi":"10.52324/001c.37970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.37970","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate the relationship between broad-based merit aid programs sponsored by U.S. state-level governments and the retention of college graduates. The impact of these programs is still debated and research in this field is limited. Using a unique data set for the 1988-2015 period and employing a difference-in-differences approach with adjustments for endogeneity bias, we find that: 1) states offering merit aid have higher workforce retention rates of college graduates, 2) the effect is strongest immediately after graduation and decreases over time, and 3) states with larger spending on merit aid have higher average retention rates of graduates that may be weakening faster over time compared with lower-spending states.","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74333608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"State Economic Impacts of Industrial Park Development: Evidence from Virginia’s Tobacco Region Megasite Program","authors":"T. Rephann","doi":"10.52324/001c.37971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.37971","url":null,"abstract":"Industrial park development is commonly advocated by state and local economic developers to aid in business attraction efforts. However, there is limited evidence of its effectiveness in promoting economic growth, particularly in rural and lagging regions in comparison to other economic development tools. This paper examines the literature on the relationship between business site availability and economic development and the rationale for public sector industrial land development assistance. Results from a survey of local economic developers in Virginia are used to characterize industrial park absorption and occupant attributes. Using this information, ex-ante state economic and tax revenue impact analyses are performed for a state-funded industrial park development program serving a rural region of Virginia, the Tobacco Region Megasite Program. The paper examines conditions that affect the economic and tax revenue impact potential of industrial parks and highlights remaining information gaps.","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90194939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Regional Resilience in China: The Response of the Provinces to the Growth Slowdown","authors":"Anping Chen, N. Groenewold","doi":"10.52324/001c.35253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.35253","url":null,"abstract":"Since 2007 China’s real GDP growth rate has slowed from a level of over 10% per annum to below 7%. Given China’s regional diversity, an important aspect of the slowdown is the possible spatial variation in its experience. This is the issue we consider in this paper and we analyse this question in the context of the regional economic resilience framework. We proceed in two stages. In the first we analyse a measure of provincial slowdown (a sensitivity index) based just on growth rates and use cross-section regressions to investigate the determinants of this index, using a range of provincial characteristics common in the resilience literature. We find that economic structure, demographic factors and education all play a role, although with signs that are often at odds with the existing literature. In the second stage we decompose regional growth rates into national and province-specific components using a VAR model and argue that since resilience concerns the response of provinces to a national shock, it is properly analysed using just the national component of the growth rate rather than the growth rate as such. We therefore analyse a sensitivity index based just on the national component of growth and find many differences between the two sets of results. Using the second index matters for the determinants which are significant as well as for the magnitude of their coefficients. It appears that some of the influences found to be significant in the first stage are there only because of their influence on growth via the province-specific component of the growth rate and in this sense are spurious.","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76965354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What Landmarks Do Visitors Remember about a Place?","authors":"Todd Gabe","doi":"10.52324/001c.35254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.35254","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83725658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Social and Economic Factors Underlying the Incidence of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in US Counties During the Initial Outbreak Phase","authors":"Nivedita Mukherji","doi":"10.52324/001c.35255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.35255","url":null,"abstract":"This paper uncovers the socioeconomic and health/lifestyle factors that can explain the differential impact of the coronavirus pandemic on different parts of the United States during the initial outbreak phase of the pandemic. Using a dynamic panel representation of an epidemiological model of disease spread, the paper develops a Vulnerability Index for US counties from the daily reported number of cases over a 20-day period of rapid disease growth. County-level economic, demographic, and health factors are used to explain the differences in the values of this index and thereby the transmission and concentration of the disease across the country. These factors are also used to examine the number of reported deaths. The paper finds that counties with high median income have a high incidence of cases but reported lower deaths. Income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, is found to be associated with more deaths and more cases. The remarkable similarity in the distribution of cases across the country and the distribution of distance-weighted international passengers served by the top international airports is evidence of the spread of the virus by way of international travel. The distributions of age, race and health risk factors such as obesity and diabetes are found to be particularly significant factors in explaining the differences in mortality across counties. Counties with better access to health care, as measured by the number of primary care physicians per capita, have lower deaths, and so do places with more health awareness as measured by flu vaccination prevalence. Environmental health conditions such as the amount of air pollution are found to be associated with counties with higher deaths from the virus. It is hoped that research such as these will help policymakers to develop risk factors for each region of the country to better contain the spread of infectious diseases in the future.","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"11 5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83613676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Effects of Tornadoes on Housing Prices in Moore, Oklahoma","authors":"Whoi Cho, Brian E. Whitacre, Claudia A Rhoades","doi":"10.52324/001c.34682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.34682","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89306327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neighborhood Land Uses as Predictors of the Upward Mobility of Poor Youth","authors":"K. Ihlanfeldt","doi":"10.52324/001c.34681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52324/001c.34681","url":null,"abstract":": Land uses within the neighborhood where poor youths reside have important effects on their development and therefore may predict their welfare as adults. Mean household incomes as adults and teenage birth rates of youth growing up in poor households are predicted based upon the land uses within the neighborhood they occupied as teenagers. Controlling for an extensive set of neighborhood socioeconomic and demographic variables, land uses are found to add to our understanding of the characteristics of places with upward mobility. Differences in land use between white and minority youth neighborhoods are also found to explain racial gaps in adult outcomes.","PeriodicalId":44865,"journal":{"name":"Review of Regional Studies","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2022-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90992162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}