Economic Development Quarterly

Economic Development Quarterly 39(2)

The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research is home to Economic Development Quarterly (EDQ). EDQ is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing and bringing to the attention of policymakers, decision makers, and researchers the latest quality research findings in economic development.

Upjohn’s mission, vision, and core values of providing unbiased quality research in the areas of employment policy, labor market analysis, and economic and workforce development initiatives closely align with that of EDQ’s mission to promote research supporting the formulation of evidence-based economic development policies, programs, and practices.

We invite you to browse our most current issue, and encourage authors to submit research to EDQ in the areas of Economic Development Theory, Location Theory, Economic Development Finance, Foreign Trade, Economic Development Incentives, Industry Studies, State and Local Economic Development Policy, Labor Economics and Workforce Policy, and Urban and Regional Economies. For questions or additional information please contact: George Erickcek, Co-Editor; Timothy J. Bartik, Co-Editor; Shawn Rohlin, Co-Editor; or Claudette Robey, Managing Editor, or phone EDQ at 269-385-0469.

Follow us: @EDQ_Journal

Latest Research Featured in Economic Development Quarterly

May 2026; volume 40 issue 2 https://journals.sagepub.com/home/edq 

The May 2026 issue of the Economic Development Quarterly starts with a conversation I had with Sammis White regarding what he, Richard (Dick) Bingham, and Gail Garfield Schwartz had in mind when they started the journal back in 1986 with the first issue being published by Sage Publications in 1987. The journal has changed but its focus remains the same: promoting evidence-based research on regional economic and workforce development policies.

The May issue offers the following research papers and commentary.

Hayduk and Toussaint-Comeau explore the important links between economic development and juvenile delinquency in their paper Local Mass Layoffs and Juvenile Delinquency. Their analysis, using county-level data on random lay-off events, indicate that adult male unemployment is associated with an increase in juvenile delinquency. The findings are seen mostly in nonmetropolitan counties, which are already vulnerable—low social capital, high poverty rates, and large gender gaps in wages. The paper’s findings only reinforce the importance of economic development to the stability of families.

Byrne, in his paper, Eminent Domain Takings and Economic Development: The Effect of State Restrictions on Metropolitan Area Economic Development, examines the employment effects of the use of eminent domain on metro areas. He found “that metropolitan areas in states that restrict the use of eminent domain experience statistically significant negative treatment effects on employment and earnings.”

In a research note, Masanori Kuroki reexamines the impact of casinos on local payrolls and employment using a case study of Arkansas. He finds that casinos did not yield a significant economic impact on the local economy in the medium run.

Finally, Bradbury and Humphreys, in their commentary, Yes, there is An Economic Consensus that Professional Sports Facilities are Inadvisable Public Investments: A Reply to Johnson, Fort, and Rosentraub, take issue with a recent paper published in EDQ, which argued that the question of the economic impact of professional sports facilities is still up for debate. Johnson, Fort, and Rosentraub argued in their paper, The Consensus (?) on Public Sports Facilities Public Spending  (V 39 N2 May 2025), that a consensus has not been reached, and it is important to examine the cost and benefits of individual projects. Bradbury and Humphreys claim that, indeed, the evidence is clear that sports facilities are questionable public investments.

The issue concludes with a book review of Mapping Asia Town Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt by Kinney, Rebecca Jo by Donna Doan Anderson.