The Regional Economic Effects of Commercial Passenger Air Service at Small Airports

I improve existing methods of regional analysis to achieve a rigorous understanding of the interaction between airport policies and regional economies. I use Self-Organizing Maps, an artificial neural network, to explore data and assess the feasibility of using matched control groups to balance variables across treatment and control groups. I modify Genetic Matching methods to create control groups balanced on a large number of variables and use quasi-experimental differences-in-differences models to examine how the economic effects of commercial passenger airports vary across counties. I find evidence that commercial passenger service has positive economic effects to the local economy, and smaller spillover effects to the larger region. Economic effects of higher quality service appear stronger, and these effects are dependent on the attributes of counties. The results support the hypothesis that a lack of regional coordination by policymakers creates suboptimal funding decisions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural and Consumer Economics

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Warren, Drake Edward

Contributors dc:contributor

• Isserman, Andrew M.

• Urban and Regional Planning

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3337961

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/83004