Economic Development Quarterly
Latest Publications


TOTAL DOCUMENTS

1199
(FIVE YEARS 102)

H-INDEX

47
(FIVE YEARS 2)

Published By Sage Publications

1552-3543, 0891-2424

2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110691
Author(s):  
Christelle Khalaf ◽  
Gilbert Michaud ◽  
G. Jason Jolley

While the concept of rurality has been debated in academic and professional literature for decades, less research has been done on a practical typology that can guide localized economic development strategies. This paper adds to the growing body of literature in search of a more nuanced definition of rural by applying unsupervised machine learning (ML) to the abundance of existing county-level data in the United States. The authors illustrate how this method can lead to a new county typology, named after economic development strategies, that accounts for idiosyncrasies in resources, opportunities, and challenges. This research serves as a practical step toward tractable, heterogeneous classifications that can inform the work of federal, state, and local policy makers, economic development practitioners, and many others.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110671
Author(s):  
John T. Mann ◽  
Steven R. Miller ◽  
Trey Malone

Rural economic development strategies increasingly focus on “homegrown” economic policies, including investing in entrepreneurial development. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of these strategies, in part because of data constraints. Using a mixed-methods approach, basic t-tests, fixed-effect probit regression, and propensity scoring techniques on data from the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey, this article tests the effectiveness of federal policies in inducing innovative activity in rural and urban establishments. The authors also explore indirect comparisons between rural and urban establishments. They find that Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards can increase the likelihood that an establishment will act innovatively and that this effect may be larger in rural settings than in urban settings. Results suggest that targeted public investment can induce rural innovation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110466
Author(s):  
Xiaochu Hu ◽  
Michael J. Dill ◽  
Sarah S. Conrad

This study contributes to the current understanding of what drives physicians to practice in rural areas by analyzing new, comprehensive survey data of practicing physicians in the United States. This research confirmed that rural origin is a powerful and reliable predictor for rural practice and revealed that new and experienced physicians have different priorities regarding location choice. Physicians choosing rural practice locations are more likely to be motivated by compensation, the resemblance of the environment to the one they grew up in, patient needs, and prenegotiated service obligations or visa/immigration status. They are less likely to attribute their location choice to social network proximity. These findings have important implications for salary incentives and policy initiatives aimed at increasing the rural physician workforce. The results of this study will help decrypt the difficulties rural areas face in attracting and retaining medical and other professionals and inform policy development.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110487
Author(s):  
Jay D. Gatrell

2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110566
Author(s):  
Theodore F. Figinski ◽  
Erin Troland

The U.S. government has supported rural hospitals through direct subsidies and staff recruitment programs. However, little is known about the long-run impact of large-scale changes to rural health care. The authors explore the long-run trajectory of Appalachian counties where a coal mining union introduced a pioneering rural health care program in the 1950s, anchored by a chain of high-quality hospitals. Hospital beds per capita in counties where the union built its hospitals are persistently high through 2006, even when compared to similar counties and accounting for a variety of supply- and demand-side factors. In particular, union counties defied a national hospital consolidation trend starting in the 1980s. Results are consistent with a supply-side explanation where the scale and/or innovation of the union's investment allowed hospital markets to thrive and attract patients from a broad geography.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110535
Author(s):  
Sawsan Abutabenjeh ◽  
Julius A. Nukpezah ◽  
Annus Azhar

Governments around the world are exploring strategies that contribute to increased government performance and economic development that enable them to meet the service-tax expectations of their citizens. Within the framework of technology use in public management, this sudy examines the effects of smart cities technologies on the importance that chief administrative officers attach to local economic development. Drawing on the Digital Era Governance (DEG) model for theoretical context, this study uses logistic regressions derived from the 2016 International City/County Management Association survey on smart cities and the U.S. Census Bureau. The results show that the level of commitment to, the extent of engagement with, and the barriers faced in implementing smart cities technologies are associated with the importance of local economic development. Among other variables, poverty and education were also found to be significant predictors of the importance of local economic development.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110461
Author(s):  
Charles Swenson

Tourist taxes are an important source of revenue for many governments. In the United States, all states impose them in the form of hotel/motel occupancy taxes, yet there is little ex post evidence as to whether such taxes affect occupancy rates. This study uses a precise establishment-level data source to examine California's varying rates by city, enabling powerful tests. The author finds that such taxes have negligible impacts on hotel sales and employment. On the other hand, hotels/motels operating in higher tax-rate cities tended to have more financial stress in terms of lower Dun and Bradstreet credit ratings.


2021 ◽  
pp. 089124242110444
Author(s):  
Sarah Miller ◽  
Katherine T. Kiernan

Housing affordability is an important component of economic development. It affects several levers for regional growth, including business formation, through wealth building and influencing entrepreneurship. Housing affordability also affects location decisions—of both labor and employers. These proceedings document findings from research presented at a conference titled “The Impact of Housing Affordability on Economic Development and Regional Labor Markets” sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. The analysis presented at the conference suggests that higher-cost housing can trigger productive workers to leave markets and may limit the ability of workers, especially African American workers, to enter the labor market. At the same time, large economic development projects can displace workers. Research suggests that land use regulation is a driver of housing affordability; typically, higher levels of regulation lead to higher costs. Also, the efforts of economic developers affect local policies, like regulation and zoning, to attract firms. Discussion at the conference suggested housing issues be more integral to economic development policy and that new and expanded measures of housing affordability be used to track affordability.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document