Fifteen years ago, researchers were restricted to using surveys, censuses and basic administrative data when they examined cities and local policies. But those methods have real limitations. Surveys can be prohibitively expensive. Censuses may be out of date and administrative data often fail to represent the population as a whole. Today, we live in a radically different … [Read more...] about Big Data: New Opportunities and Challenges for Urban Research
Migration Can Shape Local Development Policies in Unexpected Ways
When Brazil's government decided in 1967 to create a free trade zone in Manaus, it had glittering visions of Amazonian development. Located at the meeting point of two tributaries of the Amazon river, the so-called "City of the Forest" had fallen on hard times since the end of the rubber boom nearly a century before. Generous reductions in import tariffs and other tax breaks, … [Read more...] about Migration Can Shape Local Development Policies in Unexpected Ways
Who Benefits from Job Creation in Cities?
When it comes to urban economic development, everything is a question of tradeoffs. There are, as economists like to say, "no free lunches." Consider California. The astronomical wages paid by firms like Google, Apple and other digital firms draw thousands of people to the Silicon Valley/San Francisco area, and the high wages of the Hollywood studios lure people to Los … [Read more...] about Who Benefits from Job Creation in Cities?