Food insufficiency, Income shocks, Consumption, Deprivation, Material well-being, D12, I30,

No abstract

GIS methods are used to construct measures of food access for neighbourhoods in the Portland, Oregon, US metropolitan area and the sensitivity of such measures to methodological variation is examined. The level of aggregation of data inputs is varied and the effect of using both Euclidean and street network distances is tested. It is found that, regardless of the level of geographical disaggregation, distance-based measures generate approximately the same conclusions about the distribution of food access in the area. It is also found that, while the relationship between street network and Euclidean distances varies with population density, measures computed with either construct generate the same relative patterns of food access. These findings suggest that results from food access studies employing disparate methodologies can often be compared.

Barro-style models of endogenous growth imply that economic growth will initially rise with an increase in taxes directed toward economically "productive" expenditures (e.g., education, highways, public safety), but will subsequently decline-consistent with a "growth hill"-as the rising tax share depresses the net return to private capital. Previous tests focus on whether the linear incremental effect of taxes is positive, negative, or zero, with substantial evidence for all three conclusions. This study incorporates potentially non-monotonic effects for fi scal policy. Based on estimates for U.S. states, the incremental effect of taxes directed toward publicly provided productive inputs is initially positive, but eventually turns negative, consistent with a growth hill.

The determinants of the geographic distribution of industry R&D activity are examined with particular emphasis on the role of university research as well as state science and technology programs. An analysis of a cross section of metropolitan areas indicates that industry R&D labs are located in areas with state science and technology programs, as well as in areas with higher levels of university research, larger quantities of non-welfare related local government spending, a better educated workforce, and a greater population density.