State’s Evolving Job Market Changes Infrastructure Needs

David Neumark, professor of economics, is a nationally recognized labor economist who says in the next 20 years, California will see an increase in employment in service industries, which put less pressure on water, energy and road infrastructure, but require a more highly educated workforce. Neumark is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and since 2002 he has served as a senior fellow of the Public Policy Research Institute of California, where he conducted research on the employment patterns in California, workers’ compensation, and minimum and living wages. Neumark can be reached at 949-824-8496 or dneumark@uci.edu.
Additional contact: Cathy Lawhon at 949-824-1151 or clawhon@uci.edu

Growth, Infrastructure and Public Policy

Peter Navarro, an associate professor of economics and public policy, researches growth management, industrial policy, public policy, electric utilities regulation, international regulation, trade advantage and computer-based learning. He wrote The Dimming of America, a critique of the electric utility industry and its regulators. He also authored The Policy Game, which examines issues ranging from rent control and protectionism to farm policy and the defense budget. His analysis of gas and oil prices, utility regulation, the energy crisis, and other economic issues has appeared in national newspapers. Navarro can be reached at 949-357-9330 or navarrop@uci.edu.
Additional contact: Cathy Lawhon at 949-824-1151 or clawhon@uci.edu

Richard McKenzie , a professor of economics and public policy, studies the U.S. economy, tax policies, minimum-wage issues, public policies relating to digital goods, mergers, acquisitions and anti-trust. His research focuses on economic policy issues, and he has researched the nature of time in economics and the economic determinants of business school rankings. He has written more than 25 books and is a nationally recognized authority on the Microsoft anti-trust case. McKenzie can be reached at 949-463-2604 or mckenzie@gsm.uci.edu.
Additional contact: Cathy Lawhon at 949-824-1151 or clawhon@uci.edu


Downtowns Experience Revitalization and ‘Gentrification’

From Los Angeles to Chicago, wealthy citizens are leaving the suburbs and heading downtown, settling in newly rebuilt, higher-priced housing units. This “gentrification” of American downtowns is part of the natural evolution of cities and is likely to continue through 2020, according to research by UC Irvine economist Jan Brueckner and Syracuse University’s Stuart Rosenthal. Using data from 300 metropolitan areas across the country, the researchers developed the first model that uses age of housing to explain the evolving settlement patterns of wealthy and poor residents. Wealthy residents, they show, prefer newer housing. And because cities are being rebuilt from the oldest, inner areas, the well-heeled are flocking from suburbs to freshly refurbished city centers. Contact Brueckner at 949-824-0083 or jkbrueck@uci.edu.
Additional contact: Cathy Lawhon at 949-824-1151 or clawhon@uci.edu