Policy Briefs
The Center for Urban and Regional Studies produces policy briefs, executive summaries and working papers covering recently completed and timely research critical to issues affecting our region, state and country.
Inside Monopsony: Employer Responses to Higher Labor Standards in the Full Service Restaurant Industry is one of the first qualitative studies on a new wave of employment legislation. It compares the restaurant industry in San Francisco—where the minimum wage is $12.25 and all employers are required to offer paid sick days and contribute to employees’ health insurance—to that of the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina, which has no locally-enacted employment mandates.
Work Requirements in Public Housing: Impacts on Tenant Employment and Evictions provides the first assessment of the impacts of a work requirement on tenants’ employment and eviction rates. The research examines a work requirement implemented by the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA) through its Moving to Work participation.
Economic Benefits of Safe Routes to School examines efforts to improve conditions for walking and bicycling near schools to increase safety and finds these programs may also save school districts money by reducing the need for hazard busing.
Can Compact Growth Decrease Automobile Emissions? investigates if compact development reduces harmful automobile emissions, and how any reductions compare to reductions from vehicle technology solutions.
A Long Way from Home: The Impacts of a Limited Supply of Workforce Housing looks at the social, economic, and environmental benefits of providing affordable workforce housing to residents of a community in western North Carolina.
Weatherization, Rehabilitation, and Asset Preservation (WRAP) Program addresses how the lack of coordination between weatherization and housing rehabilitation assistance impact the effectiveness of both programs.
The Land Value Impacts of Wetland Restoration examines the impact large-scale wetland and stream restoration may have on surrounding land values.
Does Chicago’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Program Pass the ‘But-For’ Test? Job Creation and Economic Development Impacts Using Time Series Data analyzes the impact of TIF designation and funding on employment change, business creation, and building permit activity, ultimately showing no evidence of increasing tangible benefits for local residents.
Exploring and Understanding the Restoration Economy synthesizes the literature on quantifying the economic benefits and impacts of environmental restoration efforts and proposes a methodology for further research on the total annual economic output and employment of the restoration industry in the United States.