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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4723-9409

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Regional Planning

Year Degree Awarded

2019

Month Degree Awarded

September

First Advisor

Henry C. Renski

Second Advisor

Ina Ganguli

Third Advisor

Mark Hamin

Fourth Advisor

Charles S. Colgan

Subject Categories

Regional Economics | Urban Studies and Planning

Abstract

This dissertation is comprised of three papers that collectively explore the relationship between remote work, or people that work from anywhere, and regional economic development. The first paper measures remote occupational employment in the United States with Census microdata and a shift-share model to decompose the share of occupational growth attributed to remote work. Findings indicate remote work has grown significantly since 2000, with the most pronounced growth in high skill jobs. The second paper uses a mixed-methods design to understand the role of remote work in migration decisions. It concludes that remote work arrangements enable access to employment opportunities that are unavailable locally and supports certain migration. The third paper uses a cross-sectional design and spatial econometrics to investigate the influence of amenities on the concentration of remote workers across a sample of US counties. The findings indicate that amenities, especially recreational and cultural, play a powerful role in explaining variations of remote worker concentrations across counties and that amenities play different roles in the hierarchy of county sizes. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the implications for place and offers avenues for future inquiry.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/15232842

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