Spatial Dependency in Employment Growth in NC Counties

Abstract

A. IntroductionEconomic impact analysis has a significant role in policy making for the governments. It can increase/decrease the economic opportunities for the residents of each area. Many researchers have been studying the effect of employment growth in different regions on increasing/decreasing of employment opportunities in other regions in close proximity.In this project, I will study whether employment growth in one county can affect activities in adjacent counties within the state of North Carolina. In other words, I want to explore whether growing counties are close to each other or not by using spatial autocorrelation techniques.The unit of analysis of this research is counties in NC. I use percentage change in employment of each county between 2010 and 2015 data, collected from BEA website to test my hypothesis. B. Purpose of the study To find whether there is any spatial autocorrelation between different counties in NC in terms of economic activity and provide this information to decision makers for their regional analyses  Economic Impact Assessment to assess how activities in adjacent counties within the state impact conditions and processes inside of North Carolina  Whether growing counties are close to each other  Estimates of county-based, project-specific employment spillovers to/from one county