An urban impact analysis of the effects of discretionary categorical grant programs on intraregional economic development: A case of the Urban Development Action Grant in the Pittsburgh Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area.

摘要

This study analyzes the impact of a targeted discretionary categorical grant program--the Urban Development Action Grant (UDAG)--on intraregional economic development in the Pittsburgh Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA). Its focus is on two distinctive characteristics of the UDAG program: leveraging private investment; and targeting urban economic development. The guiding premise of the study is that a targeted discretionary categorical grant program such as the UDAG, which is formulated in spatial terms, may have its economic development benefits diverted from the intended beneficiaries through ecological fallacy and/or through the process of benefit capitalization.;The study results show that the UDAG program has generally leveraged more private investment in the suburbs and nonmetropolitan areas of the Pittsburgh PMSA than in the more depressed central cities. The results of leveraging private investment by economic activity type suggest that UDAG investors in the area are more willing to commit funds to industrial activity than to residential or commercial activity. With respect to leveraging employment, the analyses show that the UDAG program has generally met its goals for minority employment and low income employment in the region. However, the program does not seem to have adequately targeted economic development to low-income and minority groups, which suggests the occurrence of ecological fallacy and/or benefit capitalization.;The study basically utilizes an expo facto quasiexperimental contrasted group design that involves comparing and testing intact groups at the post-program phase only. The study's population consists of 45 completed UDAG projects undertaken between 1978 and 1986 in the Pittsburgh PMSA. These completed projects are classified into six groups by location and by economic activity type. Six sample units are drawn from each of the six populations and each unit represents an intact categoric group. The data collection method for this study is basically unobtrusive and the data sources are non-reactive. The technique used to analyze the data and test the research hypotheses is Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).