The Effects of Population Diversity on the Economic and Household Welfare of Metropolitan Areas in the U.S.

Authors

LIRIA M. LITANO, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration

Major/Program

Business Administration

First Advisor's Name

George Marakas

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee chair

Second Advisor's Name

Yan Chen

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Min Chen

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Sheng Guo

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

population diversity, diversity, economic growth, household income, GDP, household welfare, economic welfare, MSA, diversity, human capital, knowledge, innovation, unemployment, metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan

Date of Defense

5-14-2021

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to understand the impact of population diversity on household and economic welfare in all the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States of America (U.S.). We focused on positive views concerning the relationships between population diversity and factors such as human capital, knowledge, and innovation. We established economic growth factors using the Endogenous Growth Theory, which stated that human capital, innovation, and knowledge were significant contributors to economic growth (Romer, 1994). We argued that population diversity affected these contributors; therefore, it helped to create economic growth.

From a human capital perspective, population diversity leads to higher productivity, therefore impacted organizations and the economy (Ager and Bruckner, 2013). From an innovation perspective, population diversity brought diverse workforces and led to new businesses and employment opportunities for workers, especially skilled workers (Rodríguez-Pose and Hardy, 2015). From a knowledge perspective, population diversity brought skills and increased salaries (Ottaviano and Peri, 2006).

Using secondary data from the U.S. Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics, we ran multiple regression analyses to test our research model to understand population diversity's impact on household & economic welfare and unemployment. We focused on MSAs because MSAs tend to have diverse populations and thus the best sample to understand the real implications of diversity in the U.S. We used data from 2006 to 2018. After all, before 2006, there was no Hispanic origin data from the U.S. Census.

The results showed that population diversity harmed household welfare and the unemployment rate. Thus, as population diversity increased, the average household welfare decreased, and at the same time, the unemployment rate fell. The results also showed that population diversity had a positive effect on economic interest, thus that as population diversity increased, the economic welfare increased.

Identifier

FIDC010303

Recommended Citation

LITANO, LIRIA M., "The Effects of Population Diversity on the Economic and Household Welfare of Metropolitan Areas in the U.S." (2021). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4819.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4819