Spatial heterogeneity is introduced as an explanation for local-area growth mechanisms, especially employment growth. As these effects are difficult to detect using conventional regression approaches, we use Geographically Weighted Regressions (GWR) for non-metropolitan U.S. counties. We test...

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...

Unless there are spatial barriers that limit adjustment, economists argue that policies to alleviate poverty should focus on poor people, not poor places. Akin to urban spatial mismatch hypotheses, we develop a distance-based friction explanation of higher rural poverty. Empirical examination of...

Two key assumptions are often used in assessing the feasibility of a common currency area (CCA). First, asymmetric shocks increase the costs of forming a CCA. Second, the US represents a useful benchmark for evaluating a potential CCA. Changes in the asymmetry of US regional cycles, however, are...