Book contents
4 - Economic Development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2009
Summary
The focus of this study has been the determination of whether net new output (and jobs and employment) have been created statewide in Missouri as a consequence of casino gaming.
Leven, Phares, and Louishomme (1998)Build the Stadium – Create the Jobs!
Noll and Zimbalist (1997)CHAPTER SUMMARY. Those who believe that they can evaluate the social desirability of casinos by the number of associated jobs have confused one question with another. More geographically local jobs may or may not have anything to do with economic development, which is defined as the increase in the residents' welfare or well-being. Net export multiplier models, which are easily manipulated, estimate the number of jobs that introducing a new business to an area will attract or lose. This is a different question than asking whether casinos increase or worsen the well-being of an area's residents. Here, we correct erroneous thinking about economic development and explain the reason why job multiplier models are an untrustworthy tool in the hands of a user with an outcome to justify. Many examples of misuse come from another public issue – the building of major-league sports stadiums using tax dollars – showing that the problem, though it is a concern in casino-industry studies, is not special to them. In this chapter, we do two things. In addition to explaining why jobs are independent of true economic development, we review the workings of multiplier models, which answer a separate but valid question in their own context: What is the impact of a business on the number of local jobs?
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- Gambling in AmericaCosts and Benefits, pp. 55 - 94Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004