“Small Cities Blues:” Looking for Growth Factors in Small and Medium-Sized Cities

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. ****************************************************************************** We wish to thank Brad Watts for his outstanding research assistance. ****************************************************************************** Terms of use: Documents in Small Cities Blues: Looking for Growth Factors in Small and Medium-Sized Cities AbstractThe purpose of this exploratory study is to attempt to identify particular public policies which have the potential to increase the economic viability of smaller metropolitan areas and cities. We identify characteristics associated with smaller metro areas that performed better-than-expected (winners) and worse-than-expected (losers) during the 1990s, given their resources, industrial mix, and location as of 1990. Once these characteristics have been identified, we look for evidence that public policy choices may have promoted and enhanced a metro area's ability to succeed and to regain control of its own economic destiny. Methodologically, we construct a regression model which identifies the small metro areas that achieved higher-than-expected economic prosperity (winners) and the areas that saw lower-than-expected economic prosperity (losers) according to the model. Next, we explore whether indications exist that winners and losers are qualitatively different from other areas in ways that may indicate consequences of policy choices. A cluster analysis is completed to group the metro areas based on changes in a host of social, economic, and demographic variables between 1990 and 2000. We then use contingency table analysis and ANOVA to see if "winning" or "losing," as measured by the error term from the regression, is related to the grouping of metro areas in a way that may indicate the presence of deliberate and replicable government policy.

Stretching the concept of ‘borrowed size’

“…Erickcek and McKinney (2006) found that U.S. metro areas located within larger consolidated metropolitan areas did not perform significantly better in the 1990s than isolated areas.…”

“…While it remains uncertain whether small cities offer firms and households potential cost savings, an abundance of literature stresses that firms and households are sensitive to agglomeration benefits offered through large cities (Erickcek and McKinney, 2006). The balance between agglomeration benefits and costs varies from place to place (Camagni et al, 2013) and this heavily shapes industry location patterns (Polèse and Shearmur, 2006).…”

Putting on the moves

“…It was hypothesized that the presence of a university (education sector) or major hospital (health sector) serves as draws for newcomers (Erickcek and McKinney, 2006). Neither of these variables approaches significance at the Canada-wide level.…”

“…Key geographic and environmental variables include climate, annual precipitation, and available housing stock (Erickcek and McKinney 2006;Brennan et al 2005). The work of Florida (2003Florida ( , et al 2008 has highlighted the role of arts and culture and tolerance for diversity in attracting highly educated people to both small and large cities.…”

“…First, we are interested in the role that these different characteristics play in internal migration more generally. Many existing studies focus either on the individual characteristics of migrants, or the characteristics of communities that are successful in attracting them (e.g., Clark and Withers 1999;Erickcek and McKinney 2006;Fotheringham et al 2000). Considering them together permits us to identify the unique effects that individual, household, and community characteristics have on internal migration, thus yielding a more nuanced portrait of mobility and the attractiveness of certain types of places to certain types of people.…”