Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Environment, Economics and Politics

Reader 1

Nicholas Kacher

Reader 2

Patrick Van Horn

Rights Information

2022 Talia F Perluss

Abstract

This thesis explores the correlation between county walkability and small business receipts, as well as other possible demographic variables that could explain the success of small businesses, by using a fixed-effect panel regression model. Using county-level data in the years 2012 and 2017, this paper finds that there is a significant correlation between an increase in walkability and an increase in receipts. When running the fixed-effect regressions, this paper found that there is a moderately high positive correlation between walkability and per capita income, suggesting that the effects of an increase in walkability may also capture the effects of an increase in income. Thus, this paper ran a second set of regressions, finding without controlling for the effects of changes in income, a change in walkability is highly significant when it comes to changes in receipts. After interpreting the results, this paper recommends that a government that is concerned about the state of the economy, and more specifically the success of small businesses, should focus on urban policy that will work to improve walkability.

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