U.S. Micropolitan Area Growth: A Spatial Equilibrium Growth Analysis

Michael Davidsson,Dan S Rickman

doi:10.52324/001c.8155

Abstract

Because U.S. micropolitan areas have only relatively recently been awarded official status, little is known about their comparative economic performance. Yet, since their inception economic performance among micropolitan areas has received considerable attention from the public and local area policymakers. This paper examines micropolitan area growth during the 1990s, a period of strong national growth. A spatial equilibrium growth framework and estimated reduced-form regressions containing an extensive number of variables are used to assess the sources of differentials in micropolitan area growth. Overall, differences in productivity growth appeared to primarily underlie micropolitan area growth differentials, though household amenities and the elasticity of housing supply also appeared to be nearly as important.

Highlights

Recognizing that many counties did not fit neatly into the categories of rural or metropolitan areas, G
Rather than examine the coefficients related to Sunbelt status of U.S metropolitan areas as GT did or those related to the natural amenity ranking of a U.S nonmetropolitan county as did RR, we examine the coefficients for all independent variables
The final step of the analysis is to examine the residuals for patterns to suggest whether the influences on growth omitted from the regressions derive primarily from factors related to household amenity attractiveness, firm productivity, or housing supply

Summary

Introduction

Recognizing that many counties did not fit neatly into the categories of rural or metropolitan areas, G. Scott Thomas (1989) developed the concept of micropolitan areas. In the year 2000 the U.S Census Bureau officially designated them for statistical reporting purposes (see U.S Office of Management and Budget, 2003). Micropolitan counties are counties that have a principal city with a population between 10,000 and 50,000 or that have tight commuting links to such a city. When first defined based on the 2000 Census, there were 674 micropolitan counties, comprising approximately ten percent of the U.S population. Micropolitan areas were located mostly in the Midwest and South, with Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Indiana and Georgia leading the way, and Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey containing no micropolitan areas (Frey et al, 2004)

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