Issues in Regional Economics: An Overview

Abstract

This Special Issue consists of five studies. In the first of these, “Banks and Payday Lenders: Friends or Foes?” Barth, Hilliard, and Jahera observe that banks and payday lenders do not cater to the same customers. Banks typically serve moderately and higher income individuals as well as small and medium size enterprises. Payday lenders, on the other hand, typically serve lower income individuals. The biggest difference, however, given this difference in customers, is that payday lenders charge interest rates that are 30 to 80 times those charged by banks. This paper investigates the geographic distribution of payday lenders versus banks throughout the nation using county level data for all 50 states during the past decade, inclusive of the pre-crisis and post-crisis periods. The analysis takes into account differences in economic factors and demographic characteristics across the counties, permitting an assessment as to whether demographic characteristics are important determinants of the number of payday lenders relative to banks after taking into account economic factors. Moreover, the analysis examines the relationship between the number of payday lenders and community and smaller banks in counties to determine whether the geographical distribution of payday lenders versus banks is different for small banks as compared to big banks. Based upon the empirical findings, the paper discusses various policy options that may make credit available to lower income individuals at lower interest rates in contrast to the current situation. In the study “Access to Higher Public Education and Locational Choices of Undocumented Migrants: An Exploratory Analysis,” Cebula and Nair-Reichert note that many states have experienced a large influx of undocumented migrants in recent years. This phenomenon has created new demands on higher educational systems at the state level. Some states have passed legislation restricting the access of undocumented migrants to higher public education, whereas others provide increased access in various forms including in-state tuition. This research examines the impact of educational access on the location decisions of undocumented migrants in the U.S. It is found that undocumented migrants appear to locate in states with high average median real per capita incomes. There is also evidence of clustering of undocumented migrants in states with large migrant networks. However, the effect of educational access on the Int Adv Econ Res (2015) 21:137–138 DOI 10.1007/s11294-015-9517-0