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This study finds three main motivations for Mexican workers to participate in Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (CSAWP): Increasing household livelihood and welfare, investing in farming skills and assets, and improving children’s education and family housing. A factor analysis and a system of equations are used to find out which sociodemographic and economic characteristics of the migrants and their families are associated with each motivation. The most important results show that having more than four children along with being a farmer are positively associated with investing in farming skills and assets but being an agricultural day laborer in Mexico and having less than two children are not associated with any of the motivations. En este estudio identificamos tres motivaciones principales de los trabajadores mexicanos para participar en el Programa de Trabajadores Agrícolas Temporales de Canadá (PTAT): aumentar los medios de subsistencia y el bienestar del hogar, invertir en habilidades y activos agrícolas y mejorar la educación de los niños y la vivienda familiar. Con el análisis factorial y la aplicación de un sistema de ecuaciones vinculamos los tres tipos de motivaciones con las características sociodemográficas y económicas de los migrantes y sus familias. Los resultados más importantes muestran que tener más de cuatro hijos y ser agricultor están asociados positivamente con invertir en habilidades y activos agrícolas, pero ser jornalero agrícola en México y tener menos de dos hijos no están asociados con ninguna de las motivaciones.

Using a Barro-type empirical growth framework we explore the relationship between tax and expenditure limitations (TELs) and the economic growth of U.S. states. The model uses a panel of annual data for the 50 states from 1990 to 2010, with a variable parameter specification coupled with a dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) panel estimator. In general, more restrictive tax and expenditure limitations can influence the growth process; however, this relationship varies over levels of income and type of TEL

Water scarcity poses one of the most prominent threats to the well-being of smallholder farmers around the world. We studied the association between rural livelihood capitals (natural, human, social, financial, and physical) and resilience to water scarcity. Resilience was denoted by farmers’ self-reported capacity to have avoided, or adapted to, water scarcity. Proxies for livelihood capitals were collected from two-hundred farmers in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and their associations with a typology denoting water scarcity impacts analyzed with a Taylor-linearized multinomial response model. Physical and natural assets in the form of irrigation infrastructure and direct access to water sources were saliently associated with overall resilience (avoidance and adaptation) to water scarcity. Years of farming experience as a form of human capital asset was also strongly associated with resilience to water scarcity. Factors solely associated with the capacity to adapt to water scarcity were more nuanced with social capital assets showing closer associations. A household with a larger number of farm laborers had a higher likelihood of being unable to withstand water scarcity, but this relationship was reversed among those who managed larger farming areas. We discuss possible mechanisms that could have contributed to resilience, and how public policy could support smallholder farmers cope with water scarcity.

This is a personal view of regional science, which draws on my experiences and my training in both institutional economics and regional economics. I will start with some of those experiences and the questions they raised for me about the importance of institutions1 in regional development and some of the difficulties of doing comparative regional research. While I include regions at many levels of aggregation, my particular interest is how to incorporate institutions into the analysis of regional differences in economic development. I want to explore what literature and methods are out there that can provide insights into better ways of incorporating institutions into comparative regional research.

Using a panel data set of the 50 states from 1969 to 2005 we explore the impact of the restrictiveness of tax and expenditures limitation (TELs) on state debt. Using six characterizations of tax and expenditure limitations we build three unique indices of restrictiveness: one index for expenditure focused TELs, one for revenue focused TELs and one for TELs that limit both revenues and expenditures. We test whether the restrictiveness of TELs is associated with increased use of debt. Using two-way fixed and random effects estimators we find that more restrictive TELS on either expenditures or revenues are associated with higher levels of debt, as expected. States with more restrictive TELs that cover both revenues and expenditures have lower levels of debt.

Devolution is an institutional issue with several dimensions-space, ownership, and time. Because it has a spatial dimension, regional scientists are well positioned to contribute to the devolution debate. The transition from public to private ownership can create incentives for corruption. To address transitions we will need to draw on sociology and political science. Because they are more centralized, southern states may be less institutionally equipped to handle devolution than other states. Rural local governments are also less equipped than urban governments to handle devolution. Regional scientists can assist local governments with analysis and training.

Using a panel data set of the 50 states from 1969 to 2005 we explore the impact of the restrictiveness of tax and expenditures limitation (TELs) on state debt. Using six characterizations of tax and expenditure limitations we build three unique indices of restrictiveness: one index for expenditure focused TELs, one for revenue focused TELs and one for TELs that limit both revenues and expenditures. We test whether the restrictiveness of TELs is associated with increased use of debt. Using two-way fixed and random effects estimators we find that more restrictive TELS on either expenditures or revenues are associated with higher levels of debt, as expected. States with more restrictive TELs that cover both revenues and expenditures have lower levels of debt.

We assess the impact of an aging rural population using the Wisconsin Economic Impact Modeling System, a county-level conjoined input-output/ econometrics simulation model. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, we construct profiles of two household types to simulate the economic and fiscal impacts of 500 additional elderly households in a small rural economy. Household types vary by income levels and expenditure patterns. The results suggest that, from the perspective of local government officials, high-income elderly households will increase local expenditures more than a similar number of low-income retiree households, but the resulting increase in revenues will more than offset the increased expenditures.

Using a panel data set of the 50 states from 1969 to 2005 we explore the impact of the restrictiveness of tax and expenditures limitation (TELs) on state debt. Using six characterizations of tax and expenditure limitations we build three unique indices of restrictiveness: one index for expenditure focused TELs, one for revenue focused TELs and one for TELs that limit both revenues and expenditures. We test whether the restrictiveness of TELs is associated with increased use of debt. Using two-way fixed and random effects estimators we find that more restrictive TELS on either expenditures or revenues are associated with higher levels of debt, as expected. States with more restrictive TELs that cover both revenues and expenditures have lower levels of debt. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]