Integrated Assessment of Structural Change and Sustainability in the Chicago Region

149 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008.As the interactions between economic and environmental systems are becoming stronger, regional economic modeling is necessary to reflect the recent structural changes of economy and the nature of environmental component. Another issue is that the uncertainty and errors exist in data, assumptions and estimations in regional economic modeling. This dissertation focuses on resolving these issues in regional economic modeling. In chapter 1, the structure of a continuous time Regional Econometric Input-output Model (REIM) for the Chicago economy is developed in order to incorporate the interaction between the economy and the emission inventories. This integrated econometric-emission modeling system provides the projection of emission pollutants up to 2050 year and helps to understand the combination of sectors that are likely to be major contributors changing Chicago's air quality. Also the model simulates the EPA policies in order to suggest suitable future emission scenarios. Chapter 2 provides that the estimation of elasticities of regional imports and unemployment elasticity with respect to wage for the Chicago region and the evaluation the role of regional elasticities by sensitivity analysis which compare the different data sets within the same structure of Chicago CGE model. This study reveals the importance of the role of regional behavioral parameters in a Chicago CGE model. Also the short-run and long-run simulation through a comparison between Marshallian CGE and Walrasian CGE model of Chicago offer more comparable way for policy implications in regional economic modeling.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD