Impact of tourism infrastructure on regional development: the implantation of a Center Parcs resort in northern France

This paper assesses the impact of the implantation of a major recreational resort (670 new direct jobs planned) on the local economy of an isolated rural area in northern France. To estimate the induced effects, an original hybrid model combining Keynesian and economic base theory was used to take into account the predominant role of the first wave of spending in the tourism sector. At the local level, this resort has the potential to create between at least 70 and 80 indirect and induced jobs, provided support is lent by synergy in local policymaking (especially in training and habitat)

"Moderate" Environmental Amenities and Economic Change: The Nonmetropolitan Northern Forest of the Northeast U.S., 1970-2000

Population, employment, and income changes in a region comprised of eighteen nonmetropolitan counties of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York are described using Bureau of Economic Analysis data covering 1970 to 2000. Changes at the county level are examined as net differences using pooled cross-section time series analysis. The specific focus of the empirical analysis is the effect that environmental amenities have in population and economic change. Empirical results indicate that a county's relative endowment of environmental amenities has positive economic change effects, but only when the county is relatively accessible as well. Further, the environmental amenity effects vary in their temporal consistency, even when accessibility is taken into account. In general, however, the reported results support the proposition that even relatively moderate environmental amenities can hold positive effects for economic change. Copyright 2004 Gatton College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky..