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Three Essays on Inclusive Wealth and the Sustainability of Regions

Jones, Mackenzie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1689844433821936

Abstract Details

2023, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics.
Sustainability assessment is increasingly important due to concerns over increasing carbon damages and declining natural capital stocks. However, regional assessment is difficult due to lack of data and measurement, as well as theoretical issues due to how people and resources flow across space. The Inclusive Wealth (IW) framework offers a comprehensive approach to measuring the components of regional social welfare as the aggregate value of all capital assets in the region, and non-declining social welfare proxied by non-declining IW is defined as weak sustainability. In my three essays, I expand on the IW literature by creating novel regional estimates using the ideas of spatial equilibrium to estimate human capital, include population change within IW, and explain the spatial inequality of IW. Chapter 1 lays the groundwork for subsequent chapters by generating new regional measurements of human and health human capital by separating out the effect of health on productivity and increased well-being. I account for the inter-relationship between education and health, control for local amenities and sorting, and account for the impact of ecosystem services and social capital on health quality. I find that 47\% of counties are declining in total human capital from 2010-2017, the primary component of these declines is declining health quality which gets capitalized into productivity. These results emphasize urban-rural differences in human capital investment because a similar proportion of urban and rural counties are declining in health quality, but urban counties are able to compensate with increases in education to offset declines in health quality for productivity. Chapter 2 builds on Chapter 1 and creates an expanded IW regional framework which accounts for endogenous population and the interdependence of population and capital stock flows. I then empirically implement this approach to estimate the impact of exogenous population growth through agglomeration and congestion effects. I use the approach to estimating human and health capital developed in Chapter 1 to calculate the first regional IW index at the county level for the US between 2010-2017. I calculate spatially varying shadow values to capture the spatial differences of productivity, quality, accessibility, and supply and demand of resources for 19 capital stocks. I find that 42\% of counties are declining in IW over this time period, primarily due to declines in health quality and productivity. Collectively, these results emphasize the importance of regional sustainability assessment because using the downscaled national measurements show that only 5.1\% of counties are declining in IW over this time period. However, these regional measurements highlight that differences in regional capital stock investments lead to large welfare disparities across space, particularly due to ecosystem service and health quality inequities where 53\% of rural compared to 28\% of urban counties are declining in IW. Chapter 3 uses this new data to expand on the regional skill-based wage gap and optimal city size literature. To explain the occurrence of increased IW inequality over time and college population responsiveness to IW investments, I estimate a structural spatial equilibrium model which accounts for the positive reinforcing feedbacks between skill based sorting, preferences, and investments in capital stocks due to changing skill mix of a city. The parameters from the structural model are used to estimate the maximum sustainable city size such that simulated IW is non-declining over time based on the trade-offs of each capital stock due to changing city skill mix and population. I find this inequality is driven by a feedback loop where high-skilled workers prefer ecosystem service natural capital and health capital more than low-skill workers and investment in these capital stocks responds positively to high-skill worker population in the city. Using Columbus, OH as an example in the simulation exercise, I find that given a future economic shock from the creation of an Intel plant, the city can nearly double their low-skill population before IW begins to decline. Overall, I contribute to the ongoing interdisciplinary discourse on IW, providing valuable insights into regional income accounting and its implications for policy formulation and planning. By considering the nuances of population flows, capital stocks, and regional disparities, policymakers can work towards fostering sustainable and inclusive development that enhances the well-being of all communities.
Elena Irwin, Dr. (Advisor)
Environmental Economics; Regional Studies; Sustainability
Sustainable development; community development; sustainability; environmental economics; regional economics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jones, M. (2023). Three Essays on Inclusive Wealth and the Sustainability of Regions [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1689844433821936

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jones, Mackenzie. Three Essays on Inclusive Wealth and the Sustainability of Regions. 2023. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1689844433821936.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jones, Mackenzie. "Three Essays on Inclusive Wealth and the Sustainability of Regions." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1689844433821936

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1689844433821936
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© , some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Three Essays on Inclusive Wealth and the Sustainability of Regions by Mackenzie Jones is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.