An Economic Impact Analysis of the Nursery and Landscaping Industry in Washington State

This study shows the economic impact of the Washington State Nursery, Plant Materials and Landscaping industries on the Washington State economy. The analysis in this paper is based on 2002 Census of Agriculture and Census of Industry data, up-dated to 2005 and integrated into an IMPLAN based input-output (IO) model. The economic impact measured in this study relates only to Green Industry production and distribution sourced in the State of Washington. That is, the source of the product or service is firms located in Washington. Measured in 2002 dollars, the economic (direct and indirect) impact of the Green Industry in Washington is estimated to be $2.48 billion in sales and over 43,000 jobs. This report is organized as follows: In section 1, we give a brief overview of the study. In section 2, we present a brief literature review of other state studies made on Green Industry and their estimated economic impact. In section 3, we summarize the overall structure of Green Industry. In section 4 we discuss the research methodology. In section 5 we review the economic impact of Green Industry on the Washington economy as measured in our study, and section 6 concludes.green industry, regional economic impact, input-output analysis

The Economic Impact of a Possible Irrigation-Water Shortage in Odessa Sub-Basin: Potato Production & Processing

The Columbia Basin Project (CBP) was one of the single largest projects undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation. The venture, which started in the 1930s in Central Washington, did not entirely turn out as expected. In fact, almost half of the proposed irrigable area, located mainly in the northeastern portion of the original plan, doesn’t have any water supply from the project for irrigation purposes. The Odessa Sub-area is one of those areas. The land in this area is fertile and produces very high quality potatoes. Over the last couple of decades, potato production in this Odessa sub-region has been possible primarily because of irrigation based on deep wells. However, the underground water is drawing down and potato production may shut down as a result. Therefore, an economic threat on the economy of the Columbia Basin is in the offing, unless alternative water sources are negotiated. In this paper, we will mainly explore the regional economic impacts of the possible losses of potato production and its associated processing in the Odessa Sub-area. In section A, we briefly discuss the current status of the Columbia Basin Project. In section B, we discuss ground water level decline issues. In section C, we enumerate the economic impacts of the possible losses in potato production in the Odessa Sub-area and associated loss of potato processing. Summary and conclusions are in the final section.potato production, potato processing, regional economic impact, input-output models

Assessing the Economic Impact of Minimum Wage Increases on the Washington Economy: A General Equilibrium Approach

Washington voters passed Initiative Measure No. 688 on November 3, 1998. This bill increased Washington’s minimum wage to $5.70 on January 1, 1999.and to$6.50 on January 1, 2000. The Initiative required that future annual changes in Washington’s minimum wage be indexed to inflation in the BLS Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). As of 2005, Washington had the highest minimum wage in the nation at $7.35 per hour. Eleven other states have minimum wages above the Federal minimum wage of$5.15 per hour; however, Oregon is the only other state with an inflation-indexed minimum wage, which was $7.05 per hour in 2004. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Washington economy was used to examine the economic impact of increases in Washington’s minimum wage. Results from the short-run model indicated that a five percent increase in Washington’s minimum wage would cause a loss of 1909 minimum wage jobs (2.5 percent of baseline minimum wage jobs) but the wage bill for minimum wage workers would increase by$22.61 million (2.38 percent of the baseline minimum wage bill). The loss in the total wage and capital bill for the state economy was $14.04 million. The predicted change in gross state product was roughly 0.007 percent. Tracing the impact of increases in the minimum wage across the size distribution of household income, low income households in Washington experienced an increase in welfare and there was a slight decrease in welfare for high income households.Washington's minimum wage, the Washington CGE model, Two-level CES production functions, elasticity of labor-capital substitution, welfare change

What relations are reliably embeddable in Euclidean space?

We consider the problem of embedding a relation, represented as a directed graph, into Euclidean space. For three types of embeddings motivated by the recent literature on knowledge graphs, we obtain characterizations of which relations they are able to capture, as well as bounds on the minimal dimensionality and precision needed.Comment: submitted to COLT 201

Study of Evacuation Behavior of Coastal Gulf of Mexico Residents

In this study, we investigate the link between hurricane characteristics, demographics of the Coastal Gulf of Mexico residents, including their household location, and their respective evacuation behavior. Our study is significantly different from the previously made studies on hurricane evacuation behavior in two ways. At first, the research data is collected through recording responses to a series of hypothetical situations which are quite identical to the set of information that people are used to see during the hurricane season. Secondly, this study addresses and includes response heterogeneity while analyzing sample behavior, an issue which has not been addressed in previous research on hurricane evacuation behavior in spite of its importance.Evacuation Behavior, Hurricane, Response Heterogeneity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty, C35, Q54,

The Economic Impact of a Possible Irrigation-Water Shortage in Odessa Sub-Basin: Potato Production and Processing

The Columbia Basin Project (CBP) was one of the single largest projects undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation. The venture, which started in the 1930s in Central Washington, did not entirely turn out as expected. In fact, almost half of the proposed irrigable area, located mainly in the northeastern portion of the original plan, doesn't have any water supply from the project for irrigation purposes. The Odessa Sub-area is one of those areas. The land in this area is fertile and produces very high quality potatoes. Over the last couple of decades, potato production in this Odessa sub-region has been possible primarily because of irrigation based on deep wells. However, the underground water is drawing down and potato production may shut down as a result. Therefore, an economic threat on the economy of the Columbia Basin is in the offing, unless alternative water sources are negotiated. In this paper, we will mainly explore the regional economic impacts of the possible losses of potato production and its associated processing in the Odessa Sub-area. In section A, we briefly discuss the current status of the Columbia Basin Project. In section B, we discuss ground water level decline issues. In section C, we enumerate the economic impacts of the possible losses in potato production in the Odessa Sub-area and associated loss of potato processing. Summary and conclusions are in the final section

Study of Evacuation Behavior of Coastal Gulf of Mexico Residents

In this study, we investigate the link between hurricane characteristics, demographics of the Coastal Gulf of Mexico residents, including their household location, and their respective evacuation behavior. Our study is significantly different from the previously made studies on hurricane evacuation behavior in two ways. At first, the research data is collected through recording responses to a series of hypothetical situations which are quite identical to the set of information that people are used to see during the hurricane season. Secondly, this study addresses and includes response heterogeneity while analyzing sample behavior, an issue which has not been addressed in previous research on hurricane evacuation behavior in spite of its importance