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Journal Article
Uneven city job trends weigh on Kentucky's recovery
Journal Article
Recession takes toll on Eighth District tax collections
Journal Article
Saving for a rainy day?
Journal Article
Neighboring cities show job trends that are far apart
Journal Article
Casino gaming and local employment trends
Casino gambling has become a major industry in the United States. Economic development, especially through increases in employment, is the primary justification for casino development in a local area. This article estimates the employment effects of casino gambling for six counties in the Midwest and southern United States using ARIMA forecasting models. The results suggest that rural counties that adopt casino gambling as a major industry experience significant gains in payroll and household employment. The effects are less pronounced in urban counties, partly due to the higher volatility of ...
Working Paper
Red ink in the rearview mirror: local fiscal conditions and the issuance of traffic tickets
Municipalities have revenue motives for enforcing traffic laws in addition to public safety motives because many traffic offenses are punished via fines and the issuing municipality often retains the revenue. Anecdotal evidence supports this revenue motive. We empirically test this revenue motive using panel data on North Carolina counties. We find that significantly more tickets are issued in the year following a decline in revenue, but the issuance of traffic tickets does not decline in years following revenue increases. Our results suggest that tickets are used as a revenue generation tool ...
Working Paper
Inefficient education spending in public school districts: a case for consolidation
This paper estimates scale economies for Arkansas school districts. Large economies of scale exist in teacher salary and supply costs, as well as total costs. Our results suggest that districts, especially rural districts, would experience measurable cost-savings from consolidation. We simulate a hypothetical rural school district consolidation to obtain cost-saving estimates from consolidation. Simulations indicate that districts could save an average of 34 percent in average variable costs. At the state level, consolidation of rural districts in Arkansas could annually save million. ...
Journal Article
Social security versus private retirement accounts: a historical analysis
This paper compares Social Security benefits relative to those paid from private investments: specifically, whether 2003 retirees would gain more retirement income if they had invested their payroll taxes in private accounts during their working years. Three different retirement ages and four possible earnings levels are considered for two private investments-6-month CDs or the S&P 500. On average, the results suggest less than 5 percent of current retirees would receive a higher monthly benefit with Social Security. Several Social Security reform proposals are described.