Over the past four decades almost 400 U.S. counties have persistently had poverty rates in excess of 20 percent. These counties are generally characterized by weak economies and disadvantaged populations. This raises the hotly debated question of whether poverty-reducing policies should be...

Place-based or geographically-targeted policy has been promoted as a way to help poor regions and the poor people who live there. Yet, such policy has often been attacked by economists as slowing needed economic adjustments, redirecting resources to lower productivity regions, and supporting...

The strong U.S. real income gains and reductions in poverty during the 1990s were largely erased in the following decade, which contained two economic recessions and tepid job growth otherwise. Areas most affected by weak U.S. economic performance could be expected to also have experienced the...

Two largely separate literatures exist on regional economic development and land use economics. In this chapter, we argue that a full understanding of each of the two areas requires greater knowledge of their interrelationship. We review key studies of the two literatures, particularly those...

We examine differential state employment growth by appraising the relative effects of traditional cost factors versus knowledge and technology spillovers. One emphasis is the influence that industry composition has on employment growth. Traditional cost factors examined include wage rates,...