Tim Slaper

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Managing Director at Indiana University Bloomington

The study examines wage differentials of individuals experiencing unemployment episodes using a multivariate analysis of wage and unemployment records. The focus is the wage effect of small distance geographic mobility (micro-mobility) during job seeking. The results identify limitations on geographic micro-mobility as a source of wage disparity in...

Researchers have long debated whether entrepreneurship policy should focus on place or people. In this paper, we extend the place-based versus people-based theories using contemporaneous and geographically granular web-user online activity data to predict a region’s proclivity for entrepreneurship. We compare two theoretical hypotheses: the urban t...

Patent counts and patenting rates are the go-to measures for regional innovation, productivity and competiveness. For this reason, more attention needs to be focused on to the types of technology developed in a region and the technology embedded in the products and services in which a region specializes. Knowledge spillovers are an accepted driving...

The principal questions this research will address are: 1) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to actual or nascent entrepreneurs is associated with higher rates of new firms births in an area; 2) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to those working on design problems is associated with the quality of bus...

We use unconventional data to assess regional entrepreneurial activitytogether with regional variations in personality (or culture) driving differencesin business formation as advanced by Obschonka et al. (2015). In this paper,we expand recent research using virtually contemporaneous, andgeographically granular, user online activity to estimate a r...

Only a handful of studies on innovation empirically analyze the links between firm innovation and the sources of that innovative activity of sources of innovation on types of innovation. To fill this gap in the literature, this study provides one of the first tests to identify how important sources of new information (suppliers, customers, other bu...

The loss of manufacturing jobs is largely attributed to either offshoring or automation. Using state-level data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures and unit record administrative data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, we determine the drivers of durable goods manufacturing employment losses in Indiana. We test a simple model...

The principal questions this research will address are: 1) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to actual or nascent entrepreneurs is associated with higher rates of new firms births in an area; 2) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to those working on design problems is associated with the quality of bus...

Following recent research, we explore virtually contemporaneous, and geographically granular, user online activity related to entrepreneurship. In this paper, we present evidence that data harvested by Dstillery can complement efforts of, and data collected by, government agencies and organizations advocating for entrepreneurship, business formatio...

Cluster theory provides a framework for analyzing regional industry dynamics. Definitions and categorizations of clusters vary, however, hindering the development of econometric models for cluster analysis. The authors propose empirical measures relevant to researchers and practitioners for cluster strength/specialization, cluster diversity/diversi...

In 1988, James Coleman observed that “social capital is defined by its function. It is not a single entity but a variety of different entities, with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures, and they facilitate certain actions of actors-whether persons or corporate actors-within the structure.” If one looks at th...

In 1988, James Coleman observed that “social capital is defined by its function. It is not a single entity but a variety of different entities, with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures, and they facilitate certain actions of actors-whether persons or corporate actors-within the structure.” If one looks at th...

Attempts to create an index of innovation have focused almost exclusively on countries or states. These existing indices also weigh various drivers of innovation equally without regard to their relative effect on economic development. This article has two distinct parts. In Part I the authors develop an index of innovation at the county level. They...