Quasi-Experimental Analysis of Targeted Economic Development Programs: Lessons from Florida

The authors highlight three sources of endogeneity bias that typically haunt analyses of local government policies, and offer an empirical methodology for estimating program impacts given such concerns. They investigate Florida’s experience with implementing two common targeted economic development policies, community redevelopment areas (CRAs) and enterprise zones (EZs). Developing a simple application decision model as a guide, they find significant differences in policy implementation for small cities compared with larger cities. Florida’s small-city program implementation offers a unique opportunity to compare areas that received state-level approval for the programs with all areas that qualified for but did not receive designation using a quasi-experimental framework. In so doing, the authors explicitly address the potential for endogeneity bias caused by programrationing on the part of administrators and by nonrandom targeting of distressed areas. Consistent with existing research, they do not find evidence validating the efficacy of targeted development programs for small cities.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Certificate of Appreciation

In 1988, the Florida Department of Commerce recognized the Honorable Elaine Bloom, a member of the Florida Advisory Council, with a Certificate of Appreciation. The award was presented by the Director of Tourism and Secretary of Commerce, in grateful recognition of her outstanding public service to the State of Florida.https://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/elaine-bloom-awards/1112/thumbnail.jp

The Age of Aquariums: A Need for Focused Marketing

This exploratory study was undertaken to investigate visitor expectations of aquariums. Specifically, differences between (1) tourists and residents and (2) experienced and inexperienced aquarium visitors were examined. The data indicate that differences in expec tations exist between groups. The results reveal implications for the marketing of aquariums