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Papers written by Author(s): 'Charles Tolbert'

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  • Working Paper

    Locally Owned Bank Commuting Zone Concentration and Employer Start-Ups in Metropolitan, Micropolitan and Non-Core Rural Commuting Zones from 1970-2010

    August 2018

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-18-34

    Access to financial capital is vital for the sustainability of the local business sector in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan communities. Recent research on the restructuring of the financial industry from local owned banks to interstate conglomerates has raised questions about the impact on rural economies. In this paper, we begin our exploration of the Market Concentration Hypothesis and the Local Bank Hypothesis. The former proposes that there is a negative relationship between the percent of banks that are locally owned in the local economy and the rate of business births and continuations, and a positive effect on business deaths, while that latter proposes that there is a positive relationship between the percent of banks that are locally owned in the local economy and the rate of business births and continuations, and a negative effect on business deaths. To examine these hypotheses, we examine the impact of bank ownership concentration (percent of banks that are locally owned in a commuting zone) on business establishment births and deaths in metropolitan, micropolitan and non-core rural commuting zones. We employ panel regression models for the 1980-2010 time frame, demonstrating robustness to several specifications and spatial spillover effects. We find that local bank concentration is positively related to business dynamism in rural commuting zones, providing support to the importance of relational lending in rural areas, while finding support for the importance of market concentration in urban areas. The implications of this research are important for rural sociology, regional economics, and finance.
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  • Working Paper

    Local Manufacturing Establishments and the Earnings of Manufacturing Workers: Insights from Matched Employer-Employee Data

    January 2011

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-11-01

    We analyze the earnings determination process of more than 400,000 rural manufacturing workers in 12 selected U.S. states. Our theoretical motivation stems from an ongoing interest in the benefits of locally oriented business establishments. In this case, we distinguish manufacturing concerns that are single establishments in one rural place from branch plants that are part of larger multi-establishment enterprises. Our data permit us to introduce attributes of both workers and their employing firms into earnings determination models. For manufacturing workers in 'micropolitan' rural counties, we find that working for a local (single) establishment has a positive impact on annual earnings. However, tenure with a firm returns more earnings for workers in non-local manufacturing facilities. Conversely, for manufacturing workers in 'noncore' or rural areas without urban cores, we find that working for a local establishment has a negative effect on earnings. But, job tenure pays off more when working for a local establishment.
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  • Working Paper

    Stability and Change in Individual Determinants of Migration: Evidence from 1985-1990 and 1995 to 2000

    November 2006

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-06-27

    In this paper, we compare the reliability of migration estimates from two rather different macroeconomic periods in recent U.S. history. One of these periods, 1985-1990 coincides with the culmination of a vast industrial restructuring which saw a significant decline in manufacturing employment. The other period, 1995-2000, encompasses a time of robust economic growth and tight labor markets driven by productivity gains associated with new technologies. Our interest here is in the stability of common individual-level predictors of migration in these rather disparate macroeconomic contexts. Using confidential internal versions of the 1990 and 2000 Census long-form data, we estimate logistic models of the likelihood that individuals will migrate. The geographic detail in the internal Census data permits us to measure migration in ways that are not possible with public-domain Census data on persons. We develop migration definitions that distinguish between local residential mobility likely associated with life course transitions from migration out of the labor market area that may be driven more by employment and other socioeconomic considerations. Using logistic modeling, we find that the same individual attributes predict migration reasonably well during both periods. We also compute some illustrative probabilities of migration that show temporal stability in migration predictors could be lessened by certain changes in population composition.
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  • Working Paper

    Leaving Home: Modeling the Effect of Civic and Economic Structure on Individual Migration Patterns

    June 2002

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-02-16

    This research analyzes the effect of community structure upon individuals' probabilities of moving between 1985 and 1990. Using the full Census sample long form microdata for 1990, we re-allocate adult persons in 1990 to their 1985 county of residence. Then, using origin county macro-structural variables (derived from the Economic Census microdata) and individual characteristics (from Decennial Census microdata), we develop a two level hierarchical linear model. In level 1, we construct a logistic equation modeling individual probabilities of moving. In level 2, we model the contextual effects of origin community structure on these models. These contextual effects fall into two categories: 1) economic conditions that comprise the usual aggregate 'push' factors and 2) civic community factors that act to retain people in their community. Results specify the relationship between community context and individual migration patterns, and demonstrate effects of local economic structure and local civic structure on these individual probabilities. Most notably, we find that civic attributes of communities are associated with a propensity to stay in place, net of community economic factors and individual characteristics.
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  • Working Paper

    Civic Community in Small-Town America: How Civic Welfare is Influenced by Local Capitalism and Civic Engagement

    December 2001

    Working Paper Number:

    CES-01-19

    The aims of this paper are twofold: first, to gain a fuller understanding of factors that foster community cohesion and contribute to the residents' social and economic well-being; and, second, to move beyond previous research that used larger spatial units such as states, counties, or aggregates of counties and to focus instead on American small towns (population 2,500-20,000). The data on small towns are drawn from public-use files and from confidential microdata from various economic censuses. From these sources we construct measures of locally oriented firms, self-employment, business establishments that serve as gathering places, and associations. The local capitalism and civic engagement variables generally perform as hypothesized; in some cases they are related quite strongly to civic welfare outcomes such as income levels, poverty rates, and nonmigration rates. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working with place-level data and suggest some strategies for subsequent work on small towns and other incorporated places.
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