An analysis of regional economic growth in the U.S. Midwest.

摘要

In this paper, we examine more closely some of the forces that underlie economic growth at the county level in the US Midwest during the period 1990-2001. In an effort to describe a much more comprehensive regional economic growth model, we address a variety of different hypotheses by introducing a large number of growth-related variables. When formulating our hypotheses and specifying our growth model, we make liberal use of geographic mapping software to describe the data so as to "paint" a picture of where growth spots exist. Our empirical estimation indicates that amenities, state and local tax burdens, population density, amount of primary agriculture activity, and demographics have important impacts on economic growth..