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In this paper we examine the county-level pattern of new foreign-owned manufacturing plants in the United States from 1989 through 1994. We construct a model to produce insights into the differences in the location of these plants among Bureau of Economic Analysis regions, as well as between rural and urban counties. Higher levels of economic size, educational attainment, the existing manufacturing base, and transportation infrastructure are found to be associated with larger numbers of new foreign-owned plants. Meanwhile, higher levels of taxes and labor-intensiveness are found to be associated with smaller numbers of new plants. Comparing regions, we find that the main advantages of the Southeast region stem from a relatively high manufacturing base and relatively low taxes. Comparing urban with rural counties, we find that urban counties possess more favorable average values for nearly all the explanatory variables.

Despite the refrain that housing prices are determined by "location, location, and location," few studies of airport noise and housing prices have incorporated spatial econometric techniques. We compare various spatial econometric models and estimation methods in a hedonic price framework to examine the impact of noise on 2003 housing values near the Atlanta airport. Spatial effects are best captured by a model including both spatial autocorrelation and autoregressive parameters estimated by a generalized moments approach. In our preferred model, houses located in an area in which noise disrupts normal activities (defined by a day-night sound level of 70-75 decibels) sell for 20.8 percent less than houses located where noise does not disrupt normal activities (defined by a day-night sound level below 65 decibels). The inclusion of spatial effects magnifies the negative price impacts of airport noise. Finally, after controlling for noise, houses farther from the airport sell for less; the price elasticity with respect to distance is-0.15, implying that airport proximity is an amenity.

Changes in costs faced by firms have direct implications for their price-cost margins. Knowing how prices respond to such cost changes is crucial for understanding how individual markets function and, in turn, for understanding the macroeconomy. We analyze exchange rate pass-through into U.S. import prices for 30 industries to address two questions related to this issue. First, does the direction of a change in the exchange rate affect pass-through? Second, does the size of a change in the exchange rate matter for pass-through? We find that firms in over half the industries studied respond asymmetrically to appreciations and depreciations, but the direction of asymmetry varies. Likewise, most firms respond asymmetrically to large and small changes in the exchange rate with pass-through positively related to the size of the change. When taking into account both direction and size effects we find that the size effect dominates.