NEW FROM THE INSTITUTE
| 2016
A rapid design to facilitate commercialization, used to assist more than 200 tech start-ups.
| 2016
The purpose of this study is to explain urban wage differentials with a special focus on educational levels. The authors explore whether the share of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher in the community matters to the wages of those within specific educational cohorts, accounting for cost of living, human capital externalities, consumer externalities, policy factors, and local labor market conditions. (more…)
| 2014
One consequence of the 2007-2008 financial crisis was an abrupt shift from bank-based to direct federal student loans. This momentous change required the Department of Education to rapidly establish the capacity to service loans, which was achieved by outsourcing this responsibility to four large for-profit firms and a group of smaller regional entities. Loan servicing involves routine payment processing, account management and borrower communication, as well as the non-routine yet more labor intensive role of assisting borrowers that face hardship with debt repayment. (more…)
| 2013
The Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy (IRLEE) at the University of Michigan is working in collaboration with the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (NMSAS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to conduct an economic impact study based on the presence of the NMSAS in American Samoa. The NMSAS seeks to 1) understand the effect it has on the local economic environment and 2) use the recommendations from this study to produce a stronger and more positive influence.
The study involves two phases of work, the first of which is detailed cultural, environmental and economic background research on the region and development of research instruments. The second phase will entail original data collection through surveys of residents, business leaders, and visitors to American Samoa. The background research informs the survey instruments and data collection methods so that the study can produce a more nuanced understanding of the economic impact of the NMSAS on American Samoa.
ALL PUBLICATIONS
| 2016
Getting Technology to Product Faster using Technology Roadmapping
A rapid design to facilitate commercialization, used to assist more than 200 tech start-ups.
| 2016
Exploring Wage Determination by Education Level: A U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area Analysis From 2005 to 2012
The purpose of this study is to explain urban wage differentials with a special focus on educational levels. The authors explore whether the share of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher in the community matters to the wages of those within specific educational cohorts, accounting for cost of living, human capital externalities, consumer externalities, policy factors, and local labor market conditions.
| 2016
Food Service Privatization in Michigan’s Prisons: Observations of Corrections Officers
Our research sought to better understand the structural and behavioral changes to prison operations that accompanied prison food service privatization. In late 2013, the Michigan Department of Corrections outsourced food provision for 32 correctional facilities. Focus group interviews of corrections officers stationed in the kitchen and chow hall area at the time of the transition provide insight into how privatization affected officer duties, inmate relations, security and custody, and the prison environment.
| 2015
Participatory Economic Research: Benefits and Challenges of Incorporating Participatory Research into Social Economics
Participatory action research (PAR) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) involve traditional subjects of research in the co-creation of research design, data collection, and analysis. PAR has been used in the fields of public health, education, and geography. A case study of a local economy CBPR project will be discussed. The increasing use of field and
| 2015
The Economic Outlook for Oakland County in 2015-2017, Final Report
Many times over the past thirty years when we prepared our reports on the county, the message has been that the Oakland economy is on a roll. We are delivering the same message this year. In the current recovery since 2009, Oakland County’s job growth at 12.8 percent has significantly outstripped the 6.0 percent rate recorded for the nation as well as the 8.0 percent rate posted for Michigan.
| 2015
Economic Outlook for Washtenaw County in 2015 – 2017
As in many of the thirty years we have been preparing these reports on the county, the current situation for the Washtenaw economy is mostly sunny, although a few clouds drifted in last year. Since the county economy hit rock bottom in the summer of 2009, it has trended upward in the years from 2010
| 2014
Federal Student Loan Servicing: Contract Problems and Public Solutions
One consequence of the 2007-2008 financial crisis was an abrupt shift from bank-based to direct federal student loans. This momentous change required the Department of Education to rapidly establish the capacity to service loans, which was achieved by outsourcing this responsibility to four large for-profit firms and a group of smaller regional entities. Loan servicing involves routine payment processing, account management and borrower communication, as well as the non-routine yet more labor intensive role of assisting borrowers that face hardship with debt repayment.
| 2014
Better to Own or to Regulate? The Case of Alcohol Distribution and Sales
Alcohol-related income generation is compared across monopoly and license off-premise alcohol regulatory models in U.S. states, 1977-2010. An optimum organizational-ownership mix is found when states directly own alcohol wholesale and employ a network of state-owned retailers serving urban regions and private agents serving less-populated regions.