Tag: Creative Class

USING ENTERPRISE ZONES TO ATTRACT THE CREATIVE CLASS: SOME THEORETICAL ISSUES

Amitrajeet A. BATABYAL

Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA

aabgsh@rit.edu

Seung Jick YOO

Associate Professor, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

sjyoo@sookmyung.ac.kr

Corresponding Author

Abstract

We study decision-making by a regional authority (RA) that uses enterprise zones to attract members of the creative class—referred to as entrepreneurs—to its region. The enterprise zones provide a local public good (LPG)  to entrepreneurs who become members. First, we compute the utility maximizing number of entrepreneurs  to attract and the optimal provision level of the LPG. Second, if the LPG  is chosen optimally, then, given  we determine an expression for the utility of an entrepreneur. Third, we calculate how much an entrepreneur would be willing to pay to become a member of an enterprise zone and then discuss the potential existence of an efficient and revenue-neutral equilibrium. Finally, we comment on some theoretical difficulties stemming from the twin facts that the number of enterprise zones created and the number of entrepreneurs attracted to these zones have to be integers.

Keywords: Creative Class, Enterprise Zone, Entrepreneur, Local Public Good, Membership

JEL classification: R11, R58

 pp. 13-19

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A NOTE ON THE USE OF AMENITIES TO ATTRACT CREATIVE CLASS MEMBERS TO A CITY

Amitrajeet A. BATABYAL

Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA

aabgsh@rit.edu

Seung Jick YOO

Associate Professor, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

sjyoo@sookmyung.ac.kr

Corresponding Author

Abstract

We study the decision problem faced by a city authority (CA) who seeks to attract members of the creative class to his city by providing amenities. Creative class members care about their own incomes and about the amenities that the city provides. We construct a stylized model of this interaction and shed light on three questions. First, we determine how much additional income must be paid to a representative creative class member to maintain her utility if amenities are withdrawn. Second, we compute the cost of generating amenity benefits that equal a specific fraction of the representative creative class member’s income. Finally, we discuss whether the provision of amenity benefits is a cost-effective way of raising the representative creative class member’s utility.

Keywords: Amenity Benefits, City Authority, Cost-Effectiveness, Creative Class, Income

JEL classification: R11, R50

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A STOCHASTIC MODEL OF COMPETITION BETWEEN TWO CITIES FOR MEMBERS OF THE CREATIVE CLASS

Amitrajeet A. BATABYAL

Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623-5604, USA

aabgsh@rit.edu

Seung Jick YOO

Graduate School of International Service, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

sjyoo@sookmyung.ac.kr

*Corresponding Author

Abstract

Batabyal and Yoo (2019) have recently obtained a significant result in their analysis of the use of utilitarian and Rawlsian policies by two cities to attract the creative class. They show that if one city switches to a Rawlsian or more egalitarian objective when the other city remains utilitarian, the aggregate economy of two cities becomes less egalitarian. We show that this result depends fundamentally on the assumption that the creative class population can be described by a triangular probability distribution. If this population is modeled instead with an inverted triangular probability distribution then the above result is reversed in the sense that the welfare of the worst-off member of the creative class is always enhanced when one city switches to a Rawlsian or more egalitarian objective, irrespective of the objective of the other city.

Keywords: City, Competition, Creative Class, Rawlsian, Utilitarian

JEL classification: R11, D63
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