Number of results to display per page
Search Results
192. Measuring the Informal Economy - One Neighborhood at a Time
- Author:
- Yusef Freeman, John Talmage, and Jamie Alderslade
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The study of the urban informal economy has expanded in the last thirty years, challenging researchers to find more accurate methods of quantifying its activity. This paper examines recent works that focused on the urban informal economy in particular, and evaluates different definitions and techniques for measuring it. Methods discussed include indirect estimation methods, such as currency demand, electricity consumption, and labor force statistical profiles, as well as direct estimation measures such as labor force and household surveys. This paper discusses the prospects for applying these largely macro-level methods to more micro-market analysis and speculates on the avail ability and usefulness of existing data sources in the United States. It concludes by suggesting that there is much room for further research on the size, determinants and implications of the informal economy in American cities and calls for new efforts to align different methods of measuring the inform al economy so they can be increasingly used to support decision-making processes in the public and private sectors.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
193. From Traditional to Reformed: A Review of the Land Use Regulations in the Nation's 50 largest Metropolitan Areas
- Author:
- Jonathan Martin, Robert Puentes, and Rolf Pendall
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- A key component of the struggle for prosperity in American metropolitan areas is development patterns, which define everything from density to the socioeconomic make up of residents. Development patterns are partly a consequence of decisions by local governments—often with very little coordination, oversight, or even guidance from state or regional entities—about the physical character of new growth. Among the most important of these decisions is how to regulate land; a prerogative that local governments guard jealously.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, and Environment
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
194. Annexation and the Fiscal Fate of Cities
- Author:
- David Rusk
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- An analysis of the relationship between the annexation patterns and fiscal health of the nation's largest cities shows that: A city's ability to annex land from its surrounding county is a primary determinant of its fiscal health. Cities with greater abilities to annex have much higher bond rating scores. Of cities in large metropolitan areas, every city that expanded its boundaries by as little as 15 percent between 1950 and 2000 had a high bond rating in 2002. Conversely, all cities with low bond ratings are those that had been unable to expand their boundaries. The ability to annex land varies widely by region and state. Most high- bond-rated cities are located in “big box” states (primarily in the South and West) where land is more easily annexed. Most low-bond-rated cities are in “little box” states (primarily in the Northeast and Midwest) where land is more difficult, or impossible, to annex. Annexation is far from an outmoded, dying practice. During the 1990s, about 90 percent of the central cities that could annex additional land did so. Collectively, in just one decade they expanded their municipal territory by more than 3,000 square miles.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States
195. Bearing the Brunt: Manufacturing Job Loss in the Great Lakes Region, 1995-2005
- Author:
- Howard Wial and Alec Friedhoff
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Analysis of manufacturing employment and production in seven Great Lakes states and their metropolitan areas from 1995 through 2005 finds that: More than one-third of the nation's loss of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 occurred in seven Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Between 1995 and 2005, the United States lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs. Nearly all of this job loss occurred during the last five years, and 37.5 percent of the loss occurred in the seven Great Lakes states. Michigan lost the most manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 (nearly 218,000), followed by Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Despite these job losses, manufacturing remains a major driver of the nation's economy and the economy of the Great Lakes region. Because productivity was higher in manufacturing than in other sectors of the economy, in 2004, manufacturing accounted for a higher share of gross state product than its share of employment, both nationwide and in six of the seven states in the Great Lakes manufacturing belt. In addition, productivity in the manufacturing sector increased by 38 percent between 1997 and 2004, a much higher increase than the 24.4 percent growth in productivity for all non-farm businesses during that same time period. Manufacturing job losses were pervasive in Great Lakes metropolitan areas. All but one of the 25 largest manufacturing-dependent metropolitan areas in the Great Lakes region lost manufacturing jobs during the last decade (1995–2005), often at a faster rate than the United States as a whole. Chicago and Detroit lost the most manufacturing jobs in the last five years (over 100,000 jobs each), while Canton, OH, and Flint, MI, lost the greatest shares of manufacturing employment. The metropolitan areas in which manufacturing employment peaked between 1995 and 1997 tended to experience more severe manufacturing job losses between 1995 and 2005 than those in which manufacturing peaked later. The 13 metropolitan areas where manufacturing employment peaked between 1995 and 1997 saw an average 26.8 percent decline in manufacturing employment between 1995 and 2005. In the other 11 metropolitan areas where manufacturing employment peaked later, between 1998 and 2000, the average metropolitan area lost 18.9 percent of its manufacturing jobs during the decade. Manufacturing job losses were a major reason for slow overall job growth, and sometimes overall job losses, in Great Lakes metropolitan areas. Furthermore, employment gains in high-wage advanced service industries, which occurred in all but one of the 25 metropolitan areas studied, were not large enough to offset the loss of manufacturing jobs in most areas.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States, New York, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan
196. From Poverty, Opportunity: Putting the Market to Work for Lower Income Families
- Author:
- Matt Fellowes
- Publication Date:
- 07-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Public and private leaders have a substantial, and widely overlooked, opportunity today to help lower income families get ahead by bringing down the inflated prices they pay for basic necessities, such as food and housing.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, Markets, and Poverty
197. Where Did They Go? The Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America
- Author:
- George Galster, Jackie Cutsinger, and Jason C. Booza
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Middle-income families, the icon of the American Dream, have become a somewhat less prominent part of the American demographic profile over the last quartercentury. Numerous researchers have documented how growing economic inequality in the U.S., characterized by an increasing bifurcation of the income distribution, has slowed the growth of a once-broad American middle class.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
198. Katrina and Rita Impacts on Gulf Coast Populations: First Census Findings
- Author:
- William H. Frey and Audrey Singer
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- In the late summer of 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrought severe damage along much of the Gulf Coast, stretching from Alabama west - ward to Texas, with perhaps the most devastating consequences for the greater New Orleans area.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, Economics, and Environment
199. Delivering a Local EITC: Lessons from the San Francisco Working Families Credit
- Author:
- Tiana Wertheim and Tim Flacke
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- For families struggling to make ends meet on earnings from low-wage jobs, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has become an essential form of support, boosting the size of annual tax refunds by as much as several thousand dollars. The program is widely recognized for its accessibility (working through the tax code and tax filing system), administrative efficiency and simplicity, and its effectiveness in lifting working poor house- holds out of poverty. Why then shouldn't the EITC serve as a model for other programs for working families, particularly in parts of the country where high costs of living create added difficulties for lower-income residents?
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States and San Francisco
200. Diversity Spreads Out: Metropolitan Shifts in Hispanic, Asian, and Black Populations Since 2000
- Author:
- William H. Frey
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The idea of America as an ethnic “melting pot” gained currency at the turn of the 20th century, amid an unprecedented wave of European immigrants to the United States. At the turn of the 21st century, the melting pot ideal persists, but encompasses a more racially and ethnically diverse group of Americans, both native and foreign born. In particular, the higher growth rates of the nation's minority populations versus its white population animate this distinctly American concept.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Demographics, Development, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- New York, Asia, California, Chicago, and Phoenix