Thomas A. Garrett

English

Research Papers in Economics

Editor’s Introduction
Thomas A. Garrett
of the Transportation Institute of the University of
Manitoba explore the potential economic gains had
by freer motor carrier transportation between the
United States and Canada. Mark Funk, Erick Elder,
Vincent Yao, and Ashvin Vibhakar at the University
of Arkansas at Little Rock look at the different
effects of NAFTA across industries in five southern
states. Michael Hicks of the Air Force Institute of
Technology and Marshall University examines the
role of public infrastructure and local government
fiscal policies on local agglomeration in the retail
sector of Indiana counties.
Three papers from the second annual BERG
conference focus on economic issues in Eighth
District states. Mike Pakko of the Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis discusses the potential economic
effects of smoking bans and offers an empirical
evaluation of the revenue effects on bars and restau-
rants resulting from a recent smoking ban in one
Missouri town. David Penn of Middle Tennessee
State University examines how economic output of
states located in the Eighth Federal Reserve District
is affected by changing oil prices. Finally, David
Rapach and Jack Strauss of Saint Louis University
look at the long-run relationship between consump-
tion and housing wealth for Eighth District states.
I would like to acknowledge the help of the
authors, referees, and conference participants
who contributed to this conference volume.
T
his issue of Regional Economic
Development contains six selected
papers from two conferences sponsored
or co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis during 2006. The Transportation
and Economic Development (TED) conference was
held in Little Rock, Arkansas, in March. The TED
conference was sponsored by numerous groups,
including the Institute for Economic Advancement
at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and the
Transportation Research Board. TED conference
participants addressed regional and national
transportation issues as they relate to economic
development, such as NAFTA, border trade, and
transportation logistics.1
The Center for Regional Economics–8th District
(CRE8) at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
sponsored the second annual conference of the
Business and Economics Research Group (BERG)
in St. Louis in June. Researchers from university
based centers for business and economic research
located within the Eighth Federal Reserve District
presented a wide variety of papers on economic
issues relevant to District states.2
The first three papers in this issue were pre-
sented at the TED conference. Richard Beilock of
the University Florida, Robert Dolyniuk of the
Manitoba Trucking Association, and Barry Prentice
1 Information on TED can be found at www.ted2006-littlerock.org.
2 The second annual BERG conference agenda, along with BERG
members and past events, can be found at
http://research.stlouisfed.org/berg/.
Thomas A. Garrett is a research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Regional Economic Development, 2006, 2(2), p. 77.
© 2006, The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Articles may be reprinted, reproduced, published, distributed, displayed, and transmitted in
their entirety if copyright notice, author name(s), and full citation are included. Abstracts, synopses, and other derivative works may be made
only with prior written permission of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF ST. LOUIS REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2 2006 77

Editor's introduction

http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/red/2006/02/Garrett.pdf

Editor's introduction

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