Bringing ex
pertise in urban economics and public finance, Dr. Farideh Farazmand has joined the Northeast-Midwest Institute as a Senior Fellow for summer 2017 as the Institute strengthens its longstanding Revitalizing Older Cities Program. Dr. Farazmand’s research on the external economies of clustering and economic size and her expertise in urban economics will inform the Institute’s policy education related to current pending legislation on cities and regional issues.
Dr. Farazmand is Director of Graduate Programs and Professor of International Business at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida where she has taught in the Business School since 1999. She has published extensively in the fields of urban economics, public finance, and negotiation styles.
Based on her research into intra and interindustry production relationships, Dr. Farazmand has concluded that urban centers stimulate economic growth, based on the advantages they offer in terms of efficiency and productivity. She argues that spatial external economies of a location that result from the economic diversity and the availability of a wide range of specialized industries and services attract new firms. The clustering of new entrepreneurial firms stimulates further economic growth in that location. Based on Dr. Farazmand’s research, the economic size of a location is measured, not by size of its population, but by the industrial size and the availability of business services of the location.
Announcing the appointment, Dr. Michael J. Goff, President and CEO at NEMWI, stated “Dr. Farideh Farazmand brings impressive expertise and a long record of published research to our work with urban and regional economic policy. We are confident that she is going to contribute rich and insightful perspectives to our policy work as critical legislative proposals relating to cities are considered on Capitol Hill in the months ahead.”
In coming to the Northeast-Midwest Institute, Dr. Farazmand stated that she hopes to gain hands-on experience in the practical policy implications of her research. Because she teaches, she often does not get to see how the theories she works on are actually implemented politically. She also hopes that in collaborating with NEMWI, she will gain a broader understanding of these policy implications which will provide a stronger foundation for her future research and projects.
Dr. Farazmand can be reached at ffarazmand@nemw.org