Measurement of the Socioeconomic Impact of Lake Restoration: An Assessment Model Employing a Benefit/Cost Cross-Impact Probabilistic Approach

A bstract . A number of lake restoration demonstraton projects have been launched by the Environmental Protection Agency as a result of Public Law 92-500. To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these public investment projects requires the development of an assessment model. The proposed Benefit/Cost Cross-Impact Probabilistic Approach (BCCIPA) is one attempt at assessing the interdependent socioeconomic and environmental impacts of the lake restoration project over time, both quantitatively and qualitatively, so that various changes brought about by the project can be investigated and evaluated in two comparative stages for three points in time—before, during and after project implementation.     

Effects of Educational Expenditures on Regional Inequality in the Social Quality of Life

A bstract . Earlier studies by Liu on Quality of Life (QOL) indicators have pointed out the problems of concentration interregional inequality among the fifty states in U.S.A. Noting that the interregional inequality problem has been gradually alleviated over the past two decades, this paper attempts to provide some rudimentary explanations about this converging phenomenon through a labor market adjusting process towards social, economic and spatial equilibrium. Published state data and QOL indicators developed by Liu for 1960, 1970 and 1978 tend to support the hypothesis that investment in human resources , especially through improved elementary and secondary education , would enhance social mobility which would in turn improve labor and capital productivity. The reduced regional inequality in economic QOL seemed to be more a response than a cause when compared to that in social QOL, because variations in educational expenditures were found to be more significantly related to the social QOL indicators than to the economic ones.     

The Pursuance of Better Quality of life: In the Long Run, Better Quality of Social Life Is the Most Important Factor in Migration

A bstract . A model is developed to explore the relationships between interregional migration and regional variations of quality of life. The model incorporates the impact of the interregional variations of the various aspects of quality of life including economic, political, environmental, social, health and education. The long-run and short-run migration data for 65 major U.S. standard metropolitan statistical areas are used to test the model. The results suggest that unlike the conventional conclusions, economic factors are not so important in motivating interregional migration. Rather, it is shown that in the long-run the pursuance of better quality ot social life turns out to be the most important factor. In the short-run, the results suggest that the pursuance of better environmental quality is the dominant factor in explaining the interregional migration.