The Performance of the Buffalo Economy Since the Great Recession

In August 2017, The Worker Institute convened high level leaders over the course of two days, around a discussion of Buffalo, NY Since the Great Recession. With presentations, panels, and a visit to the UAW Local 774, participants gained a deeper understanding of the economic restructuring that followed the Great Recession and where this large metropolitan area stands today. Here, you will find links to the resources that were presented during this two day convening

Bypassing the bust: the stability of upstate New York's housing markets during the recession

Over the past decade, the United States has seen real estate activity swing from boom to bust. But upstate New York has been largely insulated from this volatility, with metropolitan areas such as Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse even registering home price increases during the recession. An analysis of upstate housing markets over the most recent residential real estate cycle indicates that the region's relatively low incidence of nonprime mortgages and the better-than-average performance of these loans contributed to this stability.Recessions ; Real estate investment ; Subprime mortgage ; Housing - Finance ; Mortgage loans

New measures of economic growth and productivity in upstate New York

Newly available measures of GDP at the metropolitan area level now afford a more comprehensive view of regional economic activity. An analysis of upstate New York's economic performance using these measures points to below-average output growth between 2001 and 2006 along with productivity levels and productivity growth below the U.S. average. The region's performance overall, however, is somewhat better than that of many manufacturing-oriented metro areas in the Great Lakes region.Federal Reserve District, 2nd ; Productivity ; Industrial productivity - Measurement ; Gross domestic product

The role of colleges and universities in building local human capital

Colleges and universities can contribute to the economic success of a region by deepening the skills and knowledge—or human capital—of its residents. Producing graduates who join the region’s educated workforce is one way these institutions increase human capital levels. In addition, the knowledge and technologies created through research activities at area universities may not only attract new firms to a region but also help existing businesses expand and innovate. These “spillover effects” can in turn raise the region’s demand for high-skilled workers.Human capital ; Universities and colleges ; Regional economics ; Technology - Economic aspects ; Research

Labor Market Trends in the Buffalo Niagara Region

In August 2017, The Worker Institute convened high level leaders over the course of two days, around a discussion of Buffalo, NY Since the Great Recession. With presentations, panels, and a visit to the UAW Local 774, participants gained a deeper understanding of the economic restructuring that followed the Great Recession and where this large metropolitan area stands today. Here, you will find links to the resources that were presented during this two day convening

Human Capital, Local Economic Development, and the Importance of Colleges and Universities

In August 2017, The Worker Institute convened high level leaders over the course of two days, around a discussion of Buffalo, NY Since the Great Recession. With presentations, panels, and a visit to the UAW Local 774, participants gained a deeper understanding of the economic restructuring that followed the Great Recession and where this large metropolitan area stands today. Here, you will find links to the resources that were presented during this two day convening

Underemployment in the early careers of college graduates following the Great Recession

Though labor market conditions steadily improved following the Great Recession, underemployment among recent college graduates continued to climb, reaching highs not seen since the early 1990s. In this paper, we take a closer look at the jobs held by underemployed college graduates in the early stages of their careers during this period. We show that relatively few recent graduates were working in low-skilled service jobs, and that many of the underemployed worked in fairly well paid non-college jobs requiring some degree of knowledge and skill. We also find that the likelihood of being underemployed was lower for those with technically oriented and occupation-specific majors than it was for those with degrees in more general fields. Moreover, our analysis suggests that underemployment is a temporary phase for many recent college graduates as they transition to better jobs after spending some time in the labor market, particularly for those who start their careers in low-skilled service jobs

Have amenities become relatively more important than firm productivity advantages in metropolitan areas?

We analyze patterns of compensating differentials to determine whether a region's bundle of site characteristics has a greater net effect on household location decisions relative to firm location decisions in U.S. metropolitan areas over time. We estimate skill-adjusted wages and attribute-adjusted rents using hedonic regressions for 238 metropolitan areas in 1990 and 2000. Within the framework of the standard Roback model, we classify each metropolitan area based on whether amenities or firm productivity advantages dominate and analyze the extent to which these classifications change between 1990 and 2000. We then decompose compensating differentials into amenity and firm productivity advantage components and examine how these components change. Empirical results suggest that while the relative importance of amenities appears to have increased slightly between 1990 and 2000, firm productivity advantages continued to dominate amenities in the vast majority of metropolitan areas during this decade