8. GAYS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: HOW ARE THEY LINKED?

Abstract

Reports that gays are correlated with high tech job growth have generated consternation and debate. This paper reviews the key results and offers several overlapping interpretations, stressing human capital, tolerance, amenities, and statistical spuriousness. Competing hypotheses are tested using the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, 300 metro areas, 3,111 counties, and surveys of 84,989 citizens. Gays alone are generally insignificant. Still they are associated with other factors in ways that shift results across different levels: gay relations with jobs appear strong in large metro areas, but fall in smaller locations.

Citation

Nichols Clark, T. (2003), "8. GAYS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: HOW ARE THEY LINKED?", Nichols Clark, T. (Ed.) The City as an Entertainment Machine (Research in Urban Policy, Vol. 9), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 221-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3520(03)09008-1