U.S. Farm Wages and Labor Market Efficiency

This study examines convergence in real wages for hired farm labor in the U.S. agricultural sector over the period 1978‐92,using the ‘average farm’ in each county as an observation. Convergence is investigated at the aggregate (or the entire U.S. level)and regional levels. Evidence supports convergence with a slower rate at the aggregate level than that at the regional level. Suggested by the evidence is the possibility that absolute benefits of wage equalization across states are ‘contagious’—that one state's successful investment raises productivity and factor payments in neighboring states and that agricultural labor markets are efficient and integrated all over the country.     

Technology and the Convergence of U.S. Urban Migration Patterns: 1970–2000

ABSTRACT The theoretical premise of this study is twofold. First, that industrial and occupational restructuring within three industries in the U.S.—manufacturing, finance, and high technology—occurred because of technological developments and these, in turn, influenced the settlement patterns of working‐age individuals. Second, that quality‐of‐life factors are increasingly important for the migration decisions of workers as the importance of proximity to ports and raw materials declines. As expected, the results show that high concentrations of high‐technology and finance occupations generally have a positive pull for migrants, with younger migrants most attracted to technology jobs. High concentrations of manufacturing jobs have a negative effect. Most surprisingly, the explanatory power of the model declines substantially across the three decades. Both employment variables and proxies for quality‐of‐life variables lost explanatory power for modeling age‐specific in‐migration to metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). Overall, the results support the industrial restructuring hypothesis, but do not find support for the idea that quality‐of‐life factors have grown in importance.     

Sources of Output Change in the U.S. Economy

Output changes in the U.S. economy from 1972 to 1977 are analyzed using a 477-sector input-output framework. The empirical model is based on benchmark data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Commodity output changes are attributed to technical change, import substitution, changes in domestic final demand, and changes in export demand. Special attention is given to the importance of international trade and the patterns of change observed in rapidly growing and declining sectors. The results indicate that 71 percent of the sectors lost domestic market share to imports, but on balance international trade contributed to positive output change through increased exports. Technology changes became increasingly important in sectors of the economy experiencing either rapid growth or decline. Conversely, final demand, exports, and import substitution generally appeared to be most important in the slowly changing sectors. These findings confirm and expand on earlier work that indicated a dominant role for technology changes in explaining output changes in emerging and declining industries.     

The U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement and Commodity Transportation Services among U.S. States

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) implemented beginning in 1989 by the United States aid Canada will have significant impacts on bilateral trading patterns. In addition to its long-term, investment-related repercussions, the FTA will affect the volume, commodity composition, and spatial distribution of trade and, consequently, the transportation services required to move commodities between the two nations. This paper examines the changing spatial structure of U.S.-Canadian trade under the FTA. It employs commodity-specific analyses of tariffs and non-tariff barriers, as well as price and income elasticities of demand, to estimate sectoral and special changes among U.S. states in total, land, water, and airborne commodity flows since 1988 attributable to the FTA. The analysis details the assumptions and methodology used, elaborates upon the likely consequences for me nation's ten largest customs districts, particularly New York, and concludes with some comments on other forces that may alter the expected results.     

Globalization and Regional Change in the U.S. Furniture Industry

ABSTRACT Furniture manufacturing has experienced rapid globalization in recent years. This is mainly the result of global production networks established by large manufacturers and retailers seeking to reduce costs in a highly competitive environment. The industry's globalization has been facilitated by technological innovations and the global reduction of trade and investment barriers. In the U.S., furniture‐producing regions are experiencing tumultuous change. Growing numbers of firms are outsourcing production to China, which is now responsible for about half of all U.S. furniture imports. Employment levels have plummeted. However, an analysis of spatial patterns of employment, output, and capital investment in U.S. furniture manufacturing shows that regional change is not uniform. Southern regions characterized by larger firms specializing in wooden case goods production have been especially vulnerable to job loss.     

The Changing Regional Structure of the U.S. Economy

This paper utilizes newly available industry-specific historical measures of Gross Regional Product to highlight the changing regional structure of the U.S. economy between 1963 and 1986. During this period, the percentage of U.S. output produced in the eight different regions changed significantly. The largest changes occurred in the Great Lakes (?3.65 percent), Mideast (?3.32 percent), and Southeast (+3.64 percent). Four major industry sectors (Agriculture, Mining, Construction, and Government) declined in relative importance in all eight regions. Five major industry sectors (TCPU, Retail Trade, Wholesale Trade, FIRE, and Services) expanded in relative importance. Somewhat surprisingly, Manufacturing output expanded for the U.S. as a whole and for six of the eight regions. The perception of decline in the relative importance of manufacturing in the U.S. is clearly based on the dramatic declines in the once dominant manufacturing base of the Mideast and Great Lakes regions.     

Imbalanced sex ratios and housing prices in the U.S.

This paper investigates whether imbalanced local sex ratios are associated with housing prices in the U.S. at the county level during the period 2000–2017, based on the hypothesis that the importance for men of advertising financial resources by spending more on housing increases in the marriage market where there is a scarcity of women. The results indicate that an increase of 0.1 in sex ratio is associated with approximately a 2% increase in housing prices, suggesting that men may allocate more resources toward mating effort by increasing their spending on housing when there is an abundance of men. There is little evidence that the positive association was greater during the housing bubble.     

Labor and the Geographic Reorganization of Container Shipping in the U.S.

The globalization of production and the geographic dispersion of economic activity have elevated the importance of the transportation and logistics sectors of the economy. One sector in particular that has experienced significant expansion is maritime transport and container shipping. As the cargo has become increasingly “discretionary” such that it can conceivably be transported through any port that allows intermodal access to the hinterland, the industry has become much more foot‐loose vis‐à‐vis a particular port of entry. The enhanced mobility of the cargo results in more intense port competition. One particular place to observe and study this dynamic is in the port and terminal selection of shippers and shipping lines and the role of port authorities in attempting to attract these carriers to their facilities. In this paper, the focus is on the role of labor and labor relations in such decisions. These issues will be studied in the context of the potential container traffic rerouting from the West to the East Coast of the U.S. and, as an illustrative case study, how these developments have played out for the East Coast port of Jacksonville, Florida.     

On the persistence of U.S. migration rates in the 20th century

The persistence or inertia of net migration rates in the United States during the twentieth century is measured. A set of basic migration data for states, counties, and state economic areas is described, and manipulations of these data are discussed. "The manipulated data are [then] analyzed graphically and by regression. The report concludes with a few remarks on the use of demographic extrapolations for planning and policy purposes."     

Regional Differences in the Competitive Characteristics of U.S. Machine Tool Companies

The U.S. machine tool (MT) sector has undergone substantial restructuring over the past three decades. Despite signs of a commercial rebound in recent years, however, a number of critical issues remain for this industry. Not all firms share these concerns, in that differences exist between producers located in the core manufacturing belt and those located elsewhere. This paper examines the characteristics, competitive problems, and markets of firms located in these two regions. Survey data from a sample of 104 machine tool companies reveal that significant core–periphery differences exist with regard to firm–specific difficulties and markets served. The data also show that firms in the periphery have been growing significantly faster than firms in the core. The paper concludes with a discussion of the likely reasons for regional variability in the characteristics of firms in this industry. Directions for future research are also suggested, notably with regard to the interplay between national regulatory conditions and the competitive performance of MT firms.     

U.S. Economic Growth vs. Environmental Conditions

A widely-held belief is that stricter environmental regulations stifle economic growth. To determine empirically the effect of environmental conditions and policies on state-level per capita income growth, a Barro-type economic growth model was estimated for the years 1982 to 1991, which correspond to two consecutive troughs in the business cycle. States with better environmental conditions had significantly higher income growth rates during this period. At the same time, stricter environmental policies did not significantly depress income growth. Data used include recently developed, consistent measures of environmental policy and quality for individual states, as well as data from the 1980 U.S. Census and Bureau of Economic Analysis.     

Growth and Change in U.S. Cities and Suburbs

Differential rates of growth and decentralization are processes that characterized U.S. urban areas over the past three decades. This paper examines the determinants of growth in cities and suburbs during the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. The modeling approach adopted in the study allows for simultaneity between population and employment, and between cities and suburbs, while also taking into account a range of other explanatory factors. Results indicate that population and employment growth in cities tend to be jointly determined, but that growth of employment in the suburbs tends to drive growth of suburban population. Results also suggest that suburban and city growth are interrelated, but that the nature of these interrelationships varies over time: suburban growth promoted city growth during the 1970s and 1980s, while city and suburban growth were jointly determined during the 1990s. Other factors that consistently explain variation in city growth include demographics, population density, crime rates, and income inequality. Factors consistently explaining suburban growth include regional location and climate.     

美国的生物入侵管理体制

外来入侵物种(IAS)给美国造成了严重的环境、健康和经济等问题,美国对其生物入侵管理体制进行了改革,于1999年颁布了生物入侵基本法并建立了国家入侵种委员会,由此形成了以该委员会为核心、联邦政府各部门为主体、州和地方政府协调配合的新管理体制,该体制在过去10年间运转良好并富有成效,值得其他国家借鉴.