IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/89584.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do public libraries impact local labor markets? Evidence from Appalachia

Author

Listed:
  • B Ferreira Neto, Amir

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of public library programs and participation on unemployment and labor force participation in Appalachia. Appalachia is an economically distressed area, mostly rural, and with a sustained lower level of labor force participation and a higher level of unemployment. As public library programs can be countercyclical to labor market outcomes, I use public library staff and the amount of print resources and computers available as instruments. The results show that neither adult nor children’s programs and participation affect local labor market outcomes. These results are robust across different specifications. Spatial econometric estimates corroborate the main results and provide evidence of spatial spillover effects, especially for children’s programs.

Suggested Citation

  • B Ferreira Neto, Amir, 2018. "Do public libraries impact local labor markets? Evidence from Appalachia," MPRA Paper 89584, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:89584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/89584/1/MPRA_paper_89584.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/110906/5/MPRA_paper_110906.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/114332/1/MPRA_paper_114332.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amir Borges Ferreira Neto, 2018. "Charity and public libraries: Does government funding crowd out donations?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 42(4), pages 525-542, November.
    2. Amir B. Ferreira Neto & Joshua C. Hall, 2019. "Economies of scale and governance of library systems: evidence from West Virginia," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 237-253, September.
    3. Christopher Hammond, 2002. "Efficiency in the provision of public services: a data envelopment analysis of UK public library systems," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 649-657.
    4. Hammond, Christopher J., 1999. "The technology of library service provision: a cost function analysis of public library systems in the United Kingdom," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 271-295, September.
    5. Ashenfelter, Orley C, 1978. "Estimating the Effect of Training Programs on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 60(1), pages 47-57, February.
    6. Witte, Kristof De & Geys, Benny, 2011. "Evaluating efficient public good provision: Theory and evidence from a generalised conditional efficiency model for public libraries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 319-327, May.
    7. Kluve, Jochen, 2010. "The effectiveness of European active labor market programs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 904-918, December.
    8. David Card & Jochen Kluve & Andrea Weber, 2010. "Active Labour Market Policy Evaluations: A Meta-Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages 452-477, November.
    9. Sharma, Khem R. & Leung, PingSun & Zane, Lynn, 1999. "Performance Measurement of Hawaii State Public Libraries: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 190-198, October.
    10. Henry S. Farber & Robert Gibbons, 1996. "Learning and Wage Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1007-1047.
    11. Christopher Bollinger & James P. Ziliak & Kenneth R. Troske, 2011. "Down from the Mountain: Skill Upgrading and Wages in Appalachia," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(4), pages 819-857.
    12. Heather M Stephens & John Deskins, 2018. "Economic Distress and Labor Market Participation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(5), pages 1336-1356.
    13. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    14. Natalia Bailey & Sean Holly & M. Hashem Pesaran, 2016. "A Two‐Stage Approach to Spatio‐Temporal Analysis with Strong and Weak Cross‐Sectional Dependence," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 249-280, January.
    15. James P. LeSage & R. Kelley Pace, 2014. "The Biggest Myth in Spatial Econometrics," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-33, December.
    16. David Card & Jochen Kluve & Andrea Weber, 2018. "What Works? A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 894-931.
    17. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2016. "Should instrumental variables be used as matching variables?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 232-237.
    18. Andrew Worthington, 1999. "Performance Indicators and Efficiency Measurement in Public Libraries," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 32(1), pages 31-42, March.
    19. Robert A. Moffitt, 2003. "Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number moff03-1, March.
    20. M. Hashem Pesaran, 2006. "Estimation and Inference in Large Heterogeneous Panels with a Multifactor Error Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(4), pages 967-1012, July.
    21. Millo, Giovanni & Piras, Gianfranco, 2012. "splm: Spatial Panel Data Models in R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 47(i01).
    22. Hashimoto, Masanori & Raisian, John, 1985. "Employment Tenure and Earnings Profiles in Japan and the United States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 721-735, September.
    23. Alessio Brown & Johannes Koettl, 2015. "Active labor market programs - employment gain or fiscal drain?," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, December.
    24. Robert J. LaLonde, 2003. "Employment and Training Programs," NBER Chapters, in: Means-Tested Transfer Programs in the United States, pages 517-586, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. DeBoer, Larry, 1992. "Economies of scale and input substitution in public libraries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 257-268, September.
    26. Betts, Julian R, 1995. "Does School Quality Matter? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(2), pages 231-250, May.
    27. Pieter Gautier & Paul Muller & Bas van der Klaauw & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2018. "Estimating Equilibrium Effects of Job Search Assistance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 1073-1125.
    28. Heather M. Stephens & Mark D. Partridge, 2011. "Do Entrepreneurs Enhance Economic Growth in Lagging Regions?," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 431-465, December.
    29. Donald F. Vitaliano, 1997. "X-Inefficiency in the Public Sector: the Case of Libraries," Public Finance Review, , vol. 25(6), pages 629-643, November.
    30. Donald F. Vitaliano, 1998. "Assessing Public Library Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 107-122, March.
    31. Bhatt, Rachana, 2010. "The impact of public library use on reading, television, and academic outcomes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 148-166, September.
    32. Sharma, Khem R. & Leung, PingSun & Zane, Lynn, 1999. "Performance Measurement Of Hawaii State Public Libraries: An Application Of Data Envelopment Analysis (Dea)," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-9, October.
    33. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413.
    34. Juan-Tomás Sayago-Gomez & Gianfranco Piras & Randall Jackson & Donald Lacombe, 2018. "Impact Evaluation of Investments in the Appalachian Region," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 41(6), pages 601-629, November.
    35. David H. Greenberg & Charles Michalopoulos & Philip K. Robins, 2003. "A Meta-Analysis of Government-Sponsored Training Programs," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(1), pages 31-53, October.
    36. Partridge, Mark & Betz, Mike, 2012. "Country Road Take Me Home: Migration Patterns in the Appalachia America and Place-Based Policy," MPRA Paper 38293, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    37. James P. LeSage, 2014. "What Regional Scientists Need to Know about Spatial Econometrics," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 44(1), pages 13-32, Spring.
    38. Halleck Vega, Solmaria & Elhorst, J. Paul, 2016. "A regional unemployment model simultaneously accounting for serial dynamics, spatial dependence and common factors," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 85-95.
    39. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097, Elsevier.
    40. Hammond, Christopher J., 2009. "The effect of organisational change on UK public library efficiency," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 286-295, September.
    41. Tomaz Cajner & Tyler Radler & David Ratner & Ivan Vidangos, 2017. "Racial Gaps in Labor Market Outcomes in the Last Four Decades and over the Business Cycle," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-071, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    42. William F. Stine, 2008. "An empirical analysis of the effect of volunteer labor on public library employment," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 525-538.
    43. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    44. Mark Partridge & Dan Rickman, 1997. "The Dispersion of US State Unemployment Rates: The Role of Market and Non-market Equilibrium Factors," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 593-606.
    45. Jeffrey Andrew Hemmeter, 2006. "Estimating Public Library Efficiency Using Stochastic Frontiers," Public Finance Review, , vol. 34(3), pages 328-348, May.
    46. Stenberg, Peter L. & Morehart, Mitchell J. & Vogel, Stephen J. & Cromartie, John & Breneman, Vincent E. & Brown, Dennis M., 2009. "Broadband Internet's Value for Rural America," Economic Research Report 55944, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    47. Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2007. "Spatial dependence in local unemployment rates," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 169-191, March.
    48. Christopher Taber & Hidehiko Ichimura, 2001. "Propensity-Score Matching with Instrumental Variables," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 119-124, May.
    49. Mark D. Partridge, 2001. "Exploring the Canadian‐U.S. Unemployment and Nonemployment Rate Gaps: Are There Lessons for Both Countries?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 701-734, November.
    50. Black, Dan A. & Kolesnikova, Natalia & Taylor, Lowell J., 2014. "Why do so few women work in New York (and so many in Minneapolis)? Labor supply of married women across US cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 59-71.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gregory Gilpin & Ezra Karger & Peter Nencka, 2021. "The Returns to Public Library Investment," Working Paper Series WP-2021-06, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, revised 20 Jul 2021.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amir B. Ferreira Neto & Joshua C. Hall, 2019. "Economies of scale and governance of library systems: evidence from West Virginia," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 237-253, September.
    2. Hammond, Christopher J., 2009. "The effect of organisational change on UK public library efficiency," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 286-295, September.
    3. Jeffrey Andrew Hemmeter, 2006. "Estimating Public Library Efficiency Using Stochastic Frontiers," Public Finance Review, , vol. 34(3), pages 328-348, May.
    4. David Card & Jochen Kluve & Andrea Weber, 2018. "What Works? A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 894-931.
    5. Changhee Kim & Hyunjung Kim & Kanghwa Choi, 2020. "Efficiency Analysis of Public Library Services Based on Establishing Entity and Outsourcing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-15, November.
    6. Gregory Gilpin & Ezra Karger & Peter Nencka, 2021. "The Returns to Public Library Investment," Working Paper Series WP-2021-06, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, revised 20 Jul 2021.
    7. Vrabková, Iveta, 2019. "Models of static and dynamic technical efficiency of municipal libraries in the Czech Republic," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Acevedo, Paloma & Cruces, Guillermo & Gertler, Paul & Martinez, Sebastian, 2020. "How vocational education made women better off but left men behind," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Simon, Jose & Simon, Clara & Arias, Alicia, 2011. "Changes in productivity of Spanish university libraries," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 578-588, October.
    10. Rüdiger Wapler & Daniel Werner & Katja Wolf, 2018. "Active labour market policies in Germany: do regional labour markets benefit?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(51), pages 5561-5578, November.
    11. Bernhard Boockmann & Christopher Osiander & Michael Stops, 2014. "Vermittlerstrategien und Arbeitsmarkterfolg – Evidenz aus kombinierten Prozess- und Befragungsdaten [Caseworkers’ strategies and clients’ labor market outcomes]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 47(4), pages 341-360, December.
    12. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Furdas, Marina & Sajons, Christoph, 2016. "End-of-year spending and the long-run employment effects of training programs for the unemployed," Freiburg Discussion Papers on Constitutional Economics 16/08, Walter Eucken Institut e.V..
    13. Eva Van Belle & Ralf Caers & Marijke De Couck & Valentina Di Stasio & Stijn Baert, 2019. "The Signal of Applying for a Job Under a Vacancy Referral Scheme," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 251-274, April.
    14. Ibarrarán, Pablo & Kluve, Jochen & Ripani, Laura & Shady, David Rosas, 2015. "Experimental evidence on the long term impacts of a youth training program," Ruhr Economic Papers 562, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Vladimír Holý, 2022. "The impact of operating environment on efficiency of public libraries," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 30(1), pages 395-414, March.
    16. Bratti, Massimiliano & Ghirelli, Corinna & Havari, Enkelejda & Santangelo, Giulia, 2018. "Vocational Training for Unemployed Youth in Latvia: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design," IZA Discussion Papers 11870, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Boockmann, Bernhard & Osiander, Christopher & Stops, Michael & Verbeek, Hans, 2013. "Effekte von Vermittlerhandeln und Vermittlerstrategien im SGB II und SGB III (Pilotstudie) : Abschlussbericht an das IAB durch das Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung e. V. (IAW), Tübingen," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201307, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    18. Román Mínguez & Roberto Basile & María Durbán, 2020. "An alternative semiparametric model for spatial panel data," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 29(4), pages 669-708, December.
    19. Paloma Acevedo & Guillermo Cruces & Paul Gertler & Sebastian Martinez, 2017. "Living Up to Expectations: How Job Training Made Women Better Off and Men Worse Off," NBER Working Papers 23264, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Kang, Hee Jay & Kim, Changhee & Choi, Kanghwa, 2024. "Combining bootstrap data envelopment analysis with social networks for rank discrimination and suitable potential benchmarks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 312(1), pages 283-297.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Local Labor Market; Labor Force Participation; Public Library; Unemployment; Appalachia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • L39 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Other
    • R59 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:89584. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.