Been very tied up with a search committee and chair work the last several weeks. Also been away at the Population Association of America Annual Meeting (loved it!). However, I thought the readers would like to see what may be the most interesting interview I ever gave. It was for a food blog/e-magazine. Here is the link.
Some colleagues and I are projecting population in North Dakota and we tried to figure out ways to identify different subregions of the state using k-means cluster analysis on a few economic variables.
A frequent caller to my radio show talks about the eroded value of the minimum wage, so I thought I would generate a data series to make the discussion clearer.
I give an updated look at the forecast for sales tax collections in Grand Forks. There are statistical issues with the forecast but corrections are in the works.
So I am following up my own post. A paper I am soon to present looks at fertility rates in North Dakota and how they were impacted by oil activity. My earlier post, Oil boom but no baby boom in ND, showed a lack of change in the age specific fertility rates for North Dakota over time related to the oil boom. That does not tell the whole story though. There are changes though that are important to highlight. Part of my research is an attempt to break out effects from price and quantity changes on the fertility rate in certain areas.
Continue reading Oil & Fertility in North Dakota