The Maine EDA University Center conducts applied research on numerous national and state level economic issues including recovery from Covid-19, labor market conditions, and minimum wage issues.
Recent Research Projects
Technology Use in US Manufacturing
Read the Full Paper:
Gabe, Todd, Elinor Hunt, and Andrew Crawley. “Technology Use in US Manufacturing.” EDA UMaine Staff Paper 2024-114: Technical Report. June 2024.
Effects of the minimum wage on US county labor markets
This paper, published in volume 16 issue 5 of the journal Regional Science Policy & Practice, is the culmination of the thesis work of former EDA graduate student, Dawn Otterby and her advisors and co-authors Andrew Crawley and Todd Gabe. Using ten years of county level data, the team examined the relationship between county minimum wage and key indicators of the labor market, including the number of annual job postings, number of people in the labor force, the number of unemployed people, and county GDP. Over all, the team found robust evidence that labor force participation increases as a result of increased minimum wages, but county level GDP remains unaffected.
Read the full Paper:
Otterby, Dawn, Andrew Crawley, and Todd Gabe. “Effects of the Minimum Wage on US County Labor Markets.” Regional Science Policy & Practice 16, no. 5 (May 1, 2024): 100008.
Economic overview of Maine’s science and technology centers
Maine’s 10 year economic plan identified technological innovation as a keystone of the state’s economic future. This report sought to look at the macro-economic indicators of the most important STEM sectors in Maine that would likely contribute to this innovation in the next five years. Drawing on previous research, we identified biotechnology, composites and advanced materials technologies, environmental technologies, Advanced technologies for Forestry and Agriculture, Information technologies, precision manufacturing, and aquaculture and Marine Sciences as the most important sectors. Biotech had the highest overall growth between 2012 and 2020, but relative to industry sizes, information technology saw the most growth. Information technology also had the largest growth in real output from $900 million in 2012 to $1.9 billion in 2020.
Read the full Technical Report:
Crawley, Andrew, Megan Bailey. “An Economic Overview of the Science and Technology Sector’s of Maine’s Economy.” EDA UMaine Staff Paper 2022-107. July 2022.