CASINO GAMBLING AS A “GROWTH POLE” STRATEGY AND ITS EFFECT ON CRIME*

ABSTRACT Casinos are often considered as a “growth pole” strategy to revitalize dilapidated regions. However, voters often reject casinos due to their perceived adverse impact on crime. Using a quasi-experimental design we analyze the impact of the casinos on crime spillover from Atlantic City to other localities in the region. We found that the level of crime in localities adjacent to Atlantic City and along the major nontoll routes to Philadelphia and New York City up to approximately 30 miles from Atlantic City rose significantly following the introduction of casinos. Crime levels are higher than they would have been in the absence of casinos.     

SPATIAL EQUILIBRIUM WITH FOOTLOOSE FIRMS*

ABSTRACT. We determine the location equilibria in a duopoly model under a novel solution concept. Typically, spatial equilibrium is described as either a simultaneous price and location game, or else as a two-stage location-then-price game. We introduce a new alternative, a two-stage price-then-location game. It is well known that no (pure strategy) equilibrium usually exists under the two standard solution concepts when products are homogeneous. We show this is also true for the new concept. We then provide numerical results for a specific functional form (the logit model) which introduces product heterogeneity into the standard framework, restoring equilibrium when the degree of substitutability between products is not too small.     

COVID-19, mental health,and rurality: A pilot study

COVID-19 has caused enormous economic and social disruptions that may have lasting effects on employment, income, and working conditions. Critically, these disruptions often have a negative impact on mental health. While significant research has examined the relationship between COVID-19 and mental health, most of these studies focus on urban centres. This paper presents results from a pilot study conducted in two rural counties in Ontario, Canada on the experiences of residents from small and rural communities related to COVID-19. Based on 3496 survey results, this study quantifies the negative impact of COVID-19 on overall mental health and the confounding role of gender, income, and age. Results must be used to expand the dialogue around rural mental health and to ensure appropriate programs and policies are developed.     

Assessment of Effects of Reductions of Lateral Stiffness along Height on Buildings Modeled as Elastic Cantilever Shear Beams

A simplified model useful for assessing economic losses due to moderate seismicity events in urban areas has been developed by studying the behavior of buildings before yielding their structural system, allowing for nonuniform stiffness along their height. In particular, buildings are modeled as cantilever shear beams with uniform mass and parabolic reduction of lateral stiffness. This particular stiffness distribution is relevant, as it could be expected to occur in buildings where earthquake action is a critical structural design criterion. The equation of motion governing the dynamic behavior of the proposed model is solved analytically, finding mode shapes in terms of first and second zero-order Legendre functions. The solution is verified by comparing it with results obtained from fine mesh finite element models. The effect of reducing the lateral stiffness is then studied in the first five modes of vibration. Results include modal periods, mode shapes, modal participation factors, and derivatives of mode shapes. In general, it is found that effects of reduction of lateral stiffness in mode shapes are moderate when the lateral stiffness in the free end is smaller than about seventy percent of the lateral stiffness at the fixed end, but become significant for larger reductions. Effects are particularly important for the derivative of the mode shapes, which could play a significant role in estimating interstory drift demands in buildings. Model usefulness is showcased by analyzing a test case where both acceleration and drift demands are assessed by considering uniform beams and beams with parabolic stiffness variation, finding notable improvements by considering the latter.     

Taxing the indigenous: a history of barriers to fiscal inclusion in the Bolivian highlands

Following the electoral success of left wing and pro-indigenous President Evo Morales, the indigenous poor in Bolivia find themselves at the centre of a new vision of the state, echoed by a fervent citizenship project to include them as contributing participants in this new Bolivia. The state is working to initiate these hitherto informally employed subjects into an individualized fiscal regime: to make them into “taxpayers”. While the highland indigenous population have supported Morales’ political project, they resist inclusion into the broader state-sponsored project. This is not simply about avoiding financial obligations; their resistance is instead firmly rooted in the historical experience of fiscal exploitation, general suspicion of any state-run scheme as well as a clash of exchange models. I argue that in order to overcome these barriers, the Tax Office has to succeed in separating fiscal expansion from its association with an abstract state concept, and instead link it to palpable everyday life and politics, such as the union structure and Morales’ project of indigenous inclusion.