Regional Economics

Dr. Timothy R. Wojan
Department of Agricultural Economics - - - - Phone: 257-9068
312 Agricultural Engineering - - - - E-mail: twojan1@pop.uky.edu

Class Hours: T - THR 3:30 - 4:45 p.m., Room 227 Agricultural Engineering

Office Hours: M 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m., W 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. or by appointment.

Required Text:

Ron Shaffer. Community Economics: Economic Structure and Change in Smaller Communities, Iowa State University Press, 1989.

Other Readings: Other readings are listed below and/or will be announced in class.

Prerequisites: ECO 201 or ECO 202.

Content:

This course presents an economic approach to the study of regions and communities. Topics covered include various tools of regional analysis, current debates regarding economic development and motivation for studying economic issues within a local context.

Grading:

* The Position Paper requires arguing in support or against a statement in no more than two type-written pages.

** The Problem Set consists of an application of one of the analytical tools discussed in class. Use of the Agricultural Data Center Computer Lab will be required to complete this assignment.

*** Students will be required to write a brief essay on their tour of the Toyota plant in Scott County and relate their impressions to the relevant literature on Japanese transplants in the U.S., high performance work organization, or community impacts.

**** The Community Analysis Practicum will require applying the concepts discussed in class to a development problem facing a Central Kentucky community. The class will examine one community in groups of 3 or 4 students. The final product will be a report presented to the local economic development organization in the community studied.

Grade Calculation:

A = 90 - 100%

B = 80 - 89%

C = 70-79%

D = 60 - 69%

E = < 60%

Midterm Grades:

"By the last day of class before the midterm withdrawal date, all teachers must inform undergraduate students in their course of their current grade based on the criteria in the syllabus." (University Senate Rule 5.1.0.1, effective 2/14/95). The withdrawal date for the Spring 1997 Semester is Friday, March 14, 1997.

Unexcused Absences and Late Submittals:

Students will be granted three unexcused absences before being penalized. Each absence in excess of three will result in a reduction of 1% of the grade calculation formula. Assignments will not be accepted later than one full week from the due date. Exceptions include Excused Absences for medical reasons or other extraordinary circumstances. Late assignments will be penalized 5 points (out of 100) for each day late.

Other:

"Policies related to excused absences, cheating/plagiarism, withdrawal, incompletes, final exams and common exams can be found in your copy of Student Rights and Responsibilities. As students and faculty in the University of Kentucky, we are all responsible for adhering to these policies."

I. Introduction to Regional Economics

⁴ CHAPTER 1 SHAFFER, pp. 3-11. Community Economics: Economic Structure and Change in Smaller Communities, Iowa State University Press, 1989.

II. Regional Economic Development

⁴ CHAPTER 4 SHAFFER, pp. 80-109.

III. Central Place Theory

⁴ CHAPTER 6 SHAFFER, pp. 125-142.

^@ Krugman, Paul. 1996. Chapter 1: Self-Organization in Space, in The Self-Organizing Economy. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

IV. Economic Base Analysis

a. Economic Specialization

^@ Handout: "Economic Specialization in Textiles and Apparel in the Southeast: Its Magnitude and Three Rationales."

^RR Bailey, Thomas. 1993 (Winter). "Organizational Innovation in the Apparel Industry," Industrial Relations 32(1): 30-47.

^RR Murray, Lauren A. 1995 (August). "Unraveling Employment Trends in Textiles and Apparel," Monthly Labor Review 62-72.

^RR Johnson, Merrill L. 1985 (January). "Postwar Industrial Development in the Southeast and the Pioneer Role of Labor-Intensive Industry," Economic Geography 61(1): 46-66.

b. Shift-Share Analysis

^@ Doeringer, P.B., D.G. Terkla and G.C. Topakian. 1987. Chapter 4: "The Changing Competitiveness of the Montachusetts Economy" in Invisible Factors in Local Economic Development New York: Oxford University Press.

^RR Doeringer, P.B., D.G. Terkla & G.C. Topakian. 1987. Invisible Factors in Local Economic Development New York: Oxford University Press

^RR Hustedde, Ron, Ron Shaffer & Glen Pulver. 1996. Community Economic Analysis: A How To Manual, pp. 20-24 and Appendix pp. 48-52. North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, RRD 141, Iowa State University.

c. Base Multipliers

⁴ CHAPTER 11 SHAFFER, pp. 256-274.

V. Input-Output Analysis

a. Background and Policy Motivation

⁴ CHAPTER 11 SHAFFER, pp. 274-285.

^@ Coughlin, Cletus C. & Thomas B. Mandelbaum. 1991 (January-February). "A Consumer's Guide to Regional Economic Multipliers," Review of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. LouiS pp. 19-32.

b. Application: The Impact of Logging

^@ Waters, Edward C., David W. Holland & Bruce A. Weber. 1996. "Effects of Reduced Timber Harvests: Urban and Rural Oregon," in Rural-Urban Interdependence and Natural Resource Policy. Corvalis, Oregon: Western Rural Development Center.

^RR Marcouiller, David W., Dean F. Schreiner & David K. Lewis. 1996. "The Impact of Forest Land Use on Regional Value Added," The Review of Regional Studies 26(2): 211-233.

c. Alternative I-O Frameworks

^@ Handout and Problem Set: Incorporating Nontimber Forest Use in an Input- Output Study

d. Economic Critique

^@ Seideman, David. 1996 (July-August). "Out of the Woods," Audobon pp. 66-75.

VI. Location Theory

⁴ CHAPTER 3 SHAFFER, pp. 46-70.

^@ Krugman, Paul. 1994. Chapter 9: "The Economics of QWERTY," in Peddling Prosperity. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

^RR Krugman, Paul. 1991. Chapter 2: "Localization," in Geography and Trade. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

^RR Krugman, Paul. 1991. Geography and Trade. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

VII. Regional Economic Models

^@ Bandara, Jay S. & Ian Coxhead. 1995. "Can Trade Liberalization Have Environmental Benefits in Developing Countries? A Sri Lankan Case Study," La Trobe University Department of Agricultural Economics Discussion Paper No. 27/95.

VIII. Technology and Regions

^@ Kenney, Martin & Richard Florida. 1992 (Winter). "The Japanese Transplants: Production Organization and Regional Development," Journal of the American Planning Association 58(1): 21-38.

^RR Storper, Michael. 1992 (January). "The Limits of Globalization: Technology Districts and International Trade," Economic Geography 68(1): 60-93.

^RR Graham, Laurie. 1993 (May). "Inside a Japanese Transplant: A Critical Perspective." Work and Occupations 20(2): 147-173.

^RR Storper, Michael. 1995. "The Resurgence of Regional Economies, Ten Years Later: The Region as a Nexus of Untraded Interdependencies," European Urban and Regional Studies 2(3): 191-221.

IX. Collective Action Problems and Regions

a. Competition and Cooperation

^@ Finegold, David. 1991. "Institutional Incentives and Skill Creation: Preconditions for a High-Skill Equilibrium." in International Comparisons of Vocational Education and Training for Intermediate Skills, London: The Falmer Press.

^RR Axelrod, Robert. 1984. Chapters 7 & 8 of The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.

b. Common Pool Resources

^@ Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Chapter 3: "Analyzing Long-Enduring, Self-Organizing, and Self-Governed Common Pool Resources" pp. 58-61 & 82-102, in Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, New York: Cambridge University Press.

^RR Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York: Cambridge University Press.

c. Sustainable Development

^@ Norgaard, Richard. 1988 (December). "Sustainable Development: A Co-Evolutionary View," Futures 606-618.

X. Regional Economic Development Revisited

⁴ CHAPTER 8 SHAFFER, pp. 188-202.

^@ Wojan, Timothy R. 1995. "Possibilities of the Commons: Ecotourism in El Nido, Palawan," Coastal Management in Tropical Asia, March.

a. Globalization and Local Response

^@Sengenberger, Werner. 1993. "Local Development and International Economic Competition," International Labour Review 132(3): 313-329.

^RR Schirmer, Peter & Melissa Taylor. 1995. Farms, Factories and Free Trade: Rural Kentucky in the Global Economy. Frankfort, KY: The Kentucky Long-term Policy Research Center.

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