The Impact of the New Markets Tax Credit on Local Business Activity
by Joyce Lillian Simmons Abstract This paper studies the causal impact of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program on local economic activity. I exploit quasi-experimental variation in eligibility at the census tract level using a regression discontinuity design based on the program’s median family income threshold and use this variation as an instrument for […]
Business Tax Incentives and Local Economic Outcomes
by Erel Amit Abstract This paper examines how state conformity to federal bonus depreciation and interest deductibility rules affects local economic activity in U.S. border counties. Using annual firstdifference border-group regressions, with border-pair specifications as a complementary design, I study whether changes in state conformity to 168(k) and 163(j) are associated with changes in employment, […]
Who Gets Wind? Investigating Economic Attributes of Iowa Counties Prior to Wind Turbine Development
by Karianna Klassen Abstract Iowa is a national leader in wind energy, producing nearly two-thirds of its electricity from wind turbines. However, the development of wind energy infrastructure across the state has been uneven—some counties host hundreds of turbines while others have none. This paper investigates whether county-level economic conditions influence the likelihood of wind […]
Directing Development: Do One-Way Roads Inhibit Downtown Development? A Case Study of Hickory, North Carolina
by Adeleine Geitner Abstract In cities across the United States, residents and policymakers have passed measures to increase accessibility and walkability as a strategy for revitalizing disinvested downtowns. Alongside many of these measures, one-way roads have been reverted to two-way traffic due to their observed hindrance on walkability and pedestrian safety. In Hickory, North Carolina, […]
The Impact of Land Use Restriction on Housing Supply and Urban Form
by Brendan Patrick Elliott Abstract Rising home prices have led to public concern regarding housing affordability and availability. Interest in the role that land use regulations may play in reducing housing availability has been of increasing interest. While many of these regulations were initially implemented to preserve neighborhood character and promote sustainable growth, many contend […]
Impact of Utility-Scale Solar Farms on Property Values in North Carolina
By Megan Wang Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate impacts of utility-scale solar farms on surrounding property values. Using data from CoreLogic, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), and the US Census Bureau, this study identifies a 12% statistically significant increase in sale values associated with high-income residential homes within three miles of […]
Subprime’s Long shadow: Understanding subprime lending’s role in the St. Louis vacancy crisis
by Glen David Morgenstern Abstract Using loan-level data, this analysis attempts to connect the events of the subprime home loan boom to the current vacancy crisis in St. Louis, Missouri. Borrowers in Black areas in the north of St. Louis City and St. Louis County received subprime home loans at higher rates during the subprime […]
The Impact of Access to Public Transportation on Residential Property Value: A Comparative Analysis of American Cities
By Moses Snow Wayne This paper develops a consistent model for analyzing the impact of access to public transportation on property value applied to the four cities of Atlanta, Boston, New York, and San Francisco. This study finds a negative relationship between increasing distance to public transit and property value. Additionally, the elicited effects in […]
Entrepreneurial Attractiveness: Amazon, Google, and the Search for Innovative Hot Spots
By Anna Katherine Kropf Recent economic literature suggests that entrepreneurship in technological fields can spur economic growth, making it a popular topic for city development officials. Yet, this increasingly popular phenomenon is met by many economic questions. One of those questions is which characteristics of metropolitan areas are attractive to entrepreneurs. To answer the question […]
Deciphering Chinese Financing To African Countries
By Gwen Geng The paper considers what attracts Chinese aid and Chinese investment to African countries and what kinds of Chinese financing projects are more likely to have unrevealed financing amount. The main database used is AidData: China’s Official Finance to Africa 2000-2012. It contains 2356 Chinese financing projects to 50 African countries. The results […]
