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Information sharing and human capital efficiency in poor neighborhoods: some graph theoretic applications

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Abstract

This paper develops an analysis of human capital development that explores the relationships between information sharing and human capital efficiency in poor neighborhoods. In deriving the results, a relative connectivity (gamma) index, borrowed from the geography literature, is integrated into a model of neighborhood human capital growth. It is argued in this paper that increases in the sharing efficiency of economic information among individuals in a given neighborhood may have positive impacts on neighborhood human capital efficiency rates. These positive impacts on neighborhood human capital efficiency may likewise help to reduce the poverty rate in that neighborhood. The results established in this paper indicate that not only is the sharing of economic information in urban neighborhoods important for neighborhood human capital development but also that neighborhood income sharing, the sharing of neighborhood social capital, and the diversity of neighborhood social capital may all have a beneficial influence on both the human capital efficiency rate and the rates of neighborhood poverty.

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Correspondence to Raymond Lee.

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Lee, R. Information sharing and human capital efficiency in poor neighborhoods: some graph theoretic applications. Ann Reg Sci 48, 917–928 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-010-0429-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-010-0429-x

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