Kevin Stolarick

Land-grant universities are distinctly American institutions of higher education in two respects. First, the establishment of a land-grant university was an independent act by the US federal government that endowed specific counties across the country with a university. Second, their mission of inclusion, with an emphasis on the agricultural and mechanic arts, was designed to educate the industrial class for professional life. Despite these institutions' unique founding and mission, however, land-grant universities have received little specific attention in the broader literature on university impacts. Given the comparatively little attention devoted to these institutions, the goal of this study is to use a descriptive and exploratory quasi-experimental analysis to evaluate the potential impacts of land-grant institutions on their local communities. The results of this analysis suggest that land-grant universities do impact their local communities, but that these impacts did not begin to appear until approximately sixty years after their initial founding.

This article examines the factors that shape economic development in Canadian regions. It employs path analysis and structural equation models to isolate the effects of technology, human capital and/or the creative class, universities, the diversity of service industries and openness to immigrants, minorities and gay and lesbian populations on regional income. It also examines the effects of several broad occupations groups—business and finance, management, science, arts and culture, education and health care—on regional income. The findings indicate that both human capital and the creative class have a direct effect on regional income. Openness and tolerance also have a significant effect on regional development in Canada. Openness towards the gay and lesbian population has a direct effect on both human capital and the creative class, while tolerance towards immigrants and visible minorities is directly associated with higher regional incomes. The university has a relatively weak effect on regional incomes and on technology as well. Management, business and finance and science occupations have a sizeable effect on regional income; arts and culture occupations have a significant effect on technology; health and education occupations have no effect on regional income.

Where do musicians locate, and why do creative industries such as music continue to cluster? This paper analyzes the economic geography of musicians and the recording industry in the US from 1970 to 2000, to shed light on the locational dynamics of music and creative industries more broadly. We examine the role of scale and scope economies in shaping the clustering and concentration of musicians and music industry firms. We argue that these two forces are bringing about a transformation in the geography of both musicians and music industry firms, evidenced in a shift away from regionally clustered, genre-specific music scenes, such as Memphis or Detroit, toward larger regional centers such as New York City and Los Angeles, which offer large markets for music employment and concentrations of other artistic and cultural endeavors that increase demand for musicians. We use population and income to probe for scale effects and look at concentrations of other creative and artistic industries to test for scope effects, while including a range of control variables in our analysis. We use lagged variables to determine whether certain places are consistently more successful at fostering concentrations of musicians and the music industry and to test for path dependency. We find some role for scale and scope effects and that both musicians and the music industry are concentrating in a relatively small number of large regional centers.

(2010). Creative Jobs, Industries and Places. Industry and Innovation: Vol. 17, Creative Jobs, Industries and Places, pp. 1-4.

Florida R., Mellander C. and Stolarick K. Beautiful places: the role of perceived aesthetic beauty in community satisfaction, Regional Studies. This research uses a large survey sample of individuals across United States locations to examine the effects of beauty and aesthetics on community satisfaction. The paper conducts these estimations by ordinary least-squares, ordered logit, and multinomial logit. The findings confirm that beauty is significantly associated with community satisfaction. Other significant factors include economic security, schools, and social interaction. Further, community-level factors are significantly more important than individual demographic characteristics in explaining community satisfaction. Florida R., Mellander C. et Stolarick K. De beaux endroits: le rôle de la beauté esthétique observée dans l'agrément communautaire, Regional Studies. Cette recherche emploie un grand échantillon d'individus à travers les Etats-Unis afin d'examiner les effets de la beauté et de l'esthétique sur l'agrément communautaire. L'article conduit ses estimations à partir des régressions aux moindres carrés, d'un logit ordonné, et d'un logit multinomial. Les résultats affirment que la beauté est en étroite corrélation avec l'agrément communautaire. D'autres facteurs importants comprennent la sécurité économique, les écoles, et l'interaction sociale. Qui plus est, les facteurs d'ordre communautaire s'avèrent d'autant plus importants que ne le sont les caractéristiques démographiques pour expliquer l'agrément communautaire. Agrément communautaire Beauté Esthétique Corrélation Florida R., Mellander C. und Stolarick K. Schöne Orte: die Rolle der subjektiven ästhetischen Schönheit für die Zufriedenheit von Gemeinschaften, Regional Studies. In dieser Studie werden im Rahmen einer Umfrage unter zahlreichen Personen an verschiedenen Orten der USA die Auswirkungen von Schönheit und Ästhetik auf die Zufriedenheit von Gemeinschaften untersucht. Die Schätzungen erfolgen mit Hilfe einer OLS-, geordneten Logit- und multinomialen Logit-Analyse. Aus den Ergebnissen geht hervor, dass zwischen Schönheit und der Zufriedenheit von Gemeinschaften ein signifikanter Zusammenhang besteht. Zu den weiteren signifikanten Faktoren gehören wirtschaftliche Sicherheit, Schulen und soziale Wechselwirkungen. Ebenso spielen Faktoren auf Gemeinschaftsebene zur Erklärung der Zufriedenheit von Gemeinschaften eine signifikant wichtigere Rolle als individuelle demografische Merkmale. Zufriedenheit von Gemeinschaften Schönheit Ästhetik Eignung Florida R., Mellander C. y Stolarick K. Lugares bonitos: el papel de la belleza estética percibida para la satisfacción de la comunidad, Regional Studies. En este estudio examinamos los efectos de la belleza y la estética en el nivel de satisfacción de la comunidad, utilizando una amplia muestra de personas en diferentes zonas de los Estados Unidos. Las estimaciones de este artículo se realizan mediante análisis por mínimos cuadrados ordinarios, un modelo ordenado logit y un modelo logit multinomial. Los resultados confirman que la belleza se asocia en gran medida con la satisfacción de la comunidad. Otros factores significativos serían la seguridad económica, la educación y la interacción social. Asimismo los factores con respecto a la comunidad son mucho más importantes que las características demográficas de las personas individuales para explicar la satisfacción de la comunidad. Satisfacción de la comunidad Belleza Estética Idoneidad

This article is a natural extension of the current discussion on occupational clustering and economic growth. It is argued that, while there has been increased interest in the role of occupations, little has been done from a methodological and empirical approach to discover how the study of occupations can illuminate the study of industry. Prior work in cluster analysis has generally taken an ‘either/or’ approach towards occupational and industrial analysis. Porter’s clustering model has illuminated the cross-fertilising linkages across industries, but this is only half the story. It is argued that what drives these clusters is not only the industry, but also the people and their occupational skills and, therefore, such analysis must be expanded. Using the case of the IT sector in Los Angeles, the industry approach is combined with an ‘occupational cluster analysis’. It is concluded that this approach leads to a better understanding of regional competitiveness and growth.