Spatial labor markets and technology spillovers: analysis from the US Midwest
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The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 to teach economic theory as a truth of industrial life, and was very much concerned with applying economics to business and industry, particularly agriculture. Between 1910 and 1967 it showed the growing influence of other social studies, such as sociology, history, and political science. Today it encompasses the majors of Agricultural Business (preparing for agricultural finance and management), Business Economics, and Economics (for advanced studies in business or economics or for careers in financing, management, insurance, etc).
History
The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 under the Division of Industrial Science (later College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); it became co-directed by the Division of Agriculture in 1919. In 1910 it became the Department of Economics and Political Science. In 1913 it became the Department of Applied Economics and Social Science; in 1924 it became the Department of Economics, History, and Sociology; in 1931 it became the Department of Economics and Sociology. In 1967 it became the Department of Economics, and in 2007 it became co-directed by the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Business.
Dates of Existence
1898–present
Historical Names
- Department of Economic Science (1898–1910)
- Department of Economics and Political Science (1910-1913)
- Department of Applied Economics and Social Science (1913–1924)
- Department of Economics, History and Sociology (1924–1931)
- Department of Economics and Sociology (1931–1967)
Related Units
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (parent college)
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- College of Business (parent college)
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Abstract
The primary focus of this paper is the impact of knowledge creation and innovative activity on non-farm employment growth. Non-farm employment growth is modeled in a stylized model where new knowledge and local economic externalities are key factors driving technology growth. For our empirical application we assume that new knowledge and innovative activity are embodied in new patent filings within the county. To explicitly capture spillovers between counties we apply spatial econometric techniques. The econometric model, based on a 2-stage spatial econometric estimation procedure, is tested for all counties in US Midwestern States of Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. The results indicate the positive influence of knowledge creation and innovative activity, as captured by patents, on non-farm employment growth during the period 1969-2000. We also find strong evidence of local spatial employment growth spillovers contributing in a positive manner to explaining non-farm employment growth. The key results also hold when we consider sub-samples of the study period suggesting our model is quite robust to the time period of analysis.