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Latest News

Dr. Yang Zhou's recent study on local currency and economic development

Dr. Yang Zhou has published a new study in the journal of Ecological Economics entitled "Money is money: The economic impact of BerkShares" (coauthored with Dr. Josh Matti from Georgia Gwinnett College). This paper uses a causal inference method is used to analyze the economic impact of a local currency, and the approach is applied to Berkshire County, MA following the introduction of BerkShares. It finds that BerkShares had no measurable impact on either the local economy or business dynamics, and the results caution against using local currencies as a development strategy.

Dr. Xi Yang publishes new work examining the labor market impacts of homeownership

Dr. Xi Yang has published a new study in the Journal of Regional Science and Urban Economics entitled "The Effect of Home Ownership on Post-unemployment Wage". This paper looks at the relationship between home ownership and post-unemployment wages. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation 1996-2008 panels, Dr. Yang found that home ownership reduced post-unemployment wages, and this negative wage effect was particularly evident when the unemployed homeowner was located in either a declining housing market or a distressed labor market.

Connor Reed, a graduate student member of GEAR, wins the Invesco Business GIS award.

Reed applied multivariate analog analysis to assess Amazon's HQ2 opportunities in Indianapolis, Indiana using previous location decisions of other Fortune 500 firms as his basis for prediction. The work was completed as part of a course taught by Dr. Murray Rice (GEAR professor in Human Geography) and was judged by an executive team at Invesco.

Dr. Michael Carroll at RSAI World Congress in Goa

Dr. Carroll was highly involved in helping the recent Regional Science Association International (RSAI) World Congress in Goa, India be a success. Along with other top editors and former editors of regional science journals, Dr. Carroll shared his editorial experience and advice about publishing in regional science. Dr. Carroll also chaired the "Forty under Forty" session. The session is geared to identifying the leading regional science scholars under forty years of age. Dr. Carroll was also a judge for "The RSAI Young Researchers Prize".