Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Accomplishments, 2002 - 2007 Throughout the five years of the project, the team of researchers associated with NE-1011 has conducted research across a broad array of topics related to the projects four objectives. Three important forms of cross-state cooperation are evident in this body of research. First, a large share of the specific research activities and outputs were conducted collaboratively across states. For example, researchers in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Texas, and South Carolina, and Iowa jointly developed a common modeling strategy for analyzing the economic and fiscal impacts of county level labor market shocks - the Community Policy Analysis System (COMPAS). A book edited by three Project members summarizes application of these COMPAS models to various public policy issues in each of these states (Johnson, Otto, and Deller 2006). These models are well-suited to facilitating measurement of both the spatial impacts (i.e., shifts in locations of establishments and jobs) and the workforce implications (shifts in employment opportunities among industries) likely to follow industrial restructuring in rural areas. A second important type of cross-state cooperation manifests itself in the form of research methods and approaches that have been developed in one state that were subsequently employed by researchers in other states investigating similar phenomena. For example, Renkow (2003, 2004, 2006) developed and implemented an analytical framework for breaking down county employment growth into changes in four components: in-commuting, out-commuting, unemployment, and labor force size (inclusive of net migration flows). This work was based on the fiscal and economic impact models of other NE-1011 members (Johnson, Scott, and Ma 1996; Swenson and Otto 2000; and Yeo and Holland 2000). In turn, Renkow's model was implemented (with some modification) by other NE-1011 members (Davis and Bachewe 2004). These empirical analyses have employed decennial census data for their implementation, but are equally amenable to using alternative data collected more frequently (e.g., annually). They generally confirm that changes in commuting flows are a dominant means by which labor markets adjust to employment shocks. Other work by NE-1011 researchers have employed different methods to examine the same phenomenon (Barkley, Henry, and Warner, 2002; Shields and Swenson, 2000), but have come to similar conclusions. A third example of the positive synergies created through the collaboration of NE-1011 researchers was a multi-state study of local social capital. This project demonstrated how network analysis methods can be used to describe, measure, and analyze community capacity for self-improvement. Researchers used a common survey approach to collect primary data about exchanges of money, information, and political support between civic, social, public, and private entities in a total of 58 small communities (about 12 in each state). The network data was augmented with economic, demographic, fiscal, and geographic data. The NE-1011 researchers analyzed the network data by applying existing social network analysis techniques and Keystone Sector Identification techniques (developed previously by an NE-1011 member) to quantify the community network structures. Next, they statistically analyzed the network patterns with respect to their secondary characteristics, local policy, and economic outcomes. The main research findings were that (i) community network structures differ with respect to size (population), (ii) no "best" structure with respect to economic outcomes was found, (iii) the new network approaches do measure social capital, and are particularly useful for distinguishing bridging from bonding social capital; and (iv) local policy choices, in particular, majority votes for local option sales taxation may be related to community network characteristics. The community network analysis activity by NE-1011 researchers collected the world's first known cross-section data on community networks, and has made it available to the research public for analysis and further basic research. It has and will continue to contribute to our ability to understand how societies can effectively organize themselves or why they may fail to organize themselves. Improving measures of social capital is a critical first step in understanding the role of social capital in community economic development. Accomplishments in 2007 During calendar year 2007, NE-1011 members made progress on all four of the projects objectives. Accomplishments are presented by objective below. Objective 1: To better understand the emerging opportunities and threats to the economic structure of non-metropolitan communities arising from forces that change the size or structure of rural markets. We focus on electronic commerce, financial liberalization, and health care. NE-1011 researchers examined the economics of communication and information service delivery and online economic activities. These studies focused on both farm and non-farm businesses. Research findings suggested that rural businesses are successfully using e-commerce to expand markets and reduce costs. Other work conducted by NE-1011 members in Ohio focused on the evolution of housing, population and employment patterns in various states. These studies explored the changing nature of population dynamics, land use, and mobility patterns in various states, as well as the attendant implications for local and state policy. Several NE-1011 researchers investigated the impacts of the biofuel boom on rural communities. Researchers in the Midwest focused on the ethanol industry, while researchers in Virginia and North Dakota focused on alternative biostocks such as switchgrass, woody plants, and agricultural residue. Research by NE-1011 members in Pennsylvania analyzed the determinants of self-employment across the U.S., including analysis of the levers available for state and local leaders to stimulate self-employment activities. Factors analyzed included business support services and educational institutions (e.g., community colleges). In addition to documenting the growing importance of self-employment, especially in rural areas, the impacts of self-employment growth on increases in wage-and-salary employment were assessed. This work showed that self-employment can be an important avenue for reducing rural poverty. Other work under this objective focused on the effects of the creative economy of the United States, finding that the positive impacts associated with the creative sectors is largely confined to urban areas. Researchers in Kentucky studied the impact of casinos on the horse industry. Research conducted by NE-1011 members in New York and at the USDA examined the viability of specialty and other value-added crops for promoting economic growth in rural areas. Finally, research was conducted on the effects of local economic instability on rural business location. This work suggested that businesses are attracted to areas with high short-term and seasonal stability; that annual fluctuations in local employment are not a significant deterrent to new business activity; and that service businesses are particularly sensitive to local employment fluctuations. Objective 2: To determine the root causes of changes in rural labor markets, the employment and demographic growth that are likely to occur in the future, and the degree to which these factors are modified by workforce development policies. Research by NE-1011 members focused on a variety of rural labor market issues. Researchers in Pennsylvania studied involuntary part-time employment in rural areas due to insufficient local labor demand. That work found that while, in general, workers can have success in transitioning to full-time jobs, that process is more difficult for rural dwellers, Hispanics, women and younger people. The results suggest that policies for reducing involuntary part-time work mirror those for reducing unemployment. Additional research documented the trend of immigrants to move away from traditional gateway cities toward their peripheries and into rural areas. Researchers in Ohio, North Carolina and Minnesota analyzed the impacts of proximity to urban employment centers, migration, commuting and workforce development policies on rural labor markets. Those investigations have turned up important differences in the importance of commuting and migration in conditioning labor market outcomes with respect to who benefits from job growth in rural areas vis-à-vis urban areas. They also highlight the very significant role that proximity to urban areas plays in understanding rural population growth and economic activity in rural areas. In Oregon, a multidisciplinary team of researchers explored the relationship between education, migration, and poverty. For adults who live in a rural area, the study found that greater educational attainment has a direct effect on eventual poverty status by increasing the likelihood of obtaining higher income (wherever they live), but no indirect effect on eventual poverty by increasing the likelihood of moving to an urban place with better income-earning opportunities. Controlling for the fact that better-educated rural adults are more likely to move to urban areas, the study finds that migration per se has little additional influence on the likelihood of being poor. In Michigan, research was conducted to identify skill sets required of managers and supervisors in livestock production. There it was found that the optimal skill sets for livestock managers paralleled those found for other industries. Objective 3: To understand the effects of public policy on rural areas and rural industries. Several NE-1011 researchers investigated local and state public finance issues. Researchers in Missouri and Wisconsin focused on changing levels of fiscal stress, how municipalities are responding to those changes, and the nature of state-local fiscal relationships. An important element of that work examines how tax and expenditure limitations influence economic growth and development. Research in Arkansas examined the impact of changes to state sales tax policy on various household segments with the state. In Idaho, research on how the state government forecasts general fund revenues suggested new and better methods for predicting the size of budget stabilization funds needed to offset cyclical deficits. In Minnesota, research investigated the changing organizational structure, tax policy and fiscal standing of local governments and the impact of tax expenditure limits on local public finances and economic growth in rural areas - particularly with respect to a state tax-free zone program. Other work by NE-1011 members examined specific types of government investments and policies. Research was conducted on the impacts of federal investments in telecommunications and water treatment infrastructure on the performance of local economies in rural communities. That work revealed that the prospective payoffs to infrastructure investment in rural areas vie with the inherent difficulty in recouping their large fixed costs in locations with low population densities, and are often substantially related to proximity of rural communities to urban employment centers. Another project evaluated factors related to differences in employment and population change for border counties along state lines in an 11 state region of the Midwest, and found that spatial factors such as distance to larger population centers are more important for economic growth than local government fiscal policies. Still another project analyzed poverty dynamics to understand how policy changes have affected the prevalence of poverty in non-metropolitan counties. Results indicated that pockets of poverty persist even in states with strong economic growth, implying the need for either a focused program of simultaneous investment in job creation, human capital formation, infrastructure and socio-political networks or an explicit policy of promoting out-migration of educated youths. Finally, research in Arkansas found that sustained neglect in the public school system has had a detrimental effect on local economic growth. Objective 4: To identify community characteristics associated with viable and healthy rural communities and investigate policy alternatives to enhance these characteristics. Research in Arkansas investigated the potential economic impact of retirees for rural counties, revealing that the impacts can vary widely depending on the structure of the local economy and proximity to urban areas. Research in Wisconsin employed Bayesian model averaging to examine the role of amenities in economic development and growth. Research in South Carolina examined the prospects for industry clusters to be drivers of economic growth. That effort indicated that that medical devices clusters are small but rapidly growing, while the textile and apparel cluster has lost significant employment to foreign producers during the last ten years. NE-1011 members in Pennsylvania collaborated with other social scientists in Ohio and Louisiana to study the role of social capital as a driver of economic performance.

2007 Publications Alter, T., J. Bridger, J. Findeis, T. Kelsey, A.E. Luloff, D. McLaughlin, and W. Shuffstall. 2007. Strengthening Rural Pennsylvania: An Integrated Approach to a Prosperous Commonwealth. The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. 16 pp. Artz, Georgeanne, Peter F. Orazem, and Daniel M. Otto. 2007. Measuring the Impact of Meat Packing and Processing Facilities in Nonmetropolitan Counties: A Difference-in-Differences Approach, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 89(3): 557-570. Atasoy, Sibel, James McConnon, and Todd M. Gabe. 2007. The Economic Impact and Importance of Microbusinesses to the New England Economy. School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 560. Barkley, D.L., D.M. Markley, and D. Lamie. 2007. E-commerce as a Business Strategy: Lessons Learned from Case Studies of Rural and Small Town Businesses. UCED Research Report, EDA University Center for Economic Development, Clemson University. www.clemson.edu/uced. Bharadwaj, L. 2007. Work Participation, Motivation, and Benefit Receipt from Off-farm Work on U.S. Farms: A Household Bargaining Approach. Ph.D. Dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 250 pp. Bitsch, V. 2007. Job Satisfaction in Horticulture: New Insights. Acta Horticulturae 762: 431-8. Bitsch, V. and N.J. Olynk. 2007. Skills Required of Managers in Livestock Production: Evidence from Focus Group Research. Review of Agricultural Economics 29 (4):749-64. Bitsch, V. and E. Yakura. 2007. Middle management in agriculture: Roles, functions, and practices. International Food and Agribusiness Management Review 10 (2):1-28. Brasier, K.J., S.J. Goetz, et al. 2007. How Clusters of Agricultural Firms Affect Local Community Sustainability. Journal of the Community Development Society (in press). Cheng, M-L., N. Bills, and J. Francis. 2007. Systemic Risk and Spatial Dependence of Specialty Crop Production: Implications for Whole Farm Insurance. North American Regional Science Association Meetings. Savannah, GA. Colliver, Donald, James Bush, Alison Davis, Mike Montross, Robert Fehr, Richard Gates, Greg Halich, and Sue Nokes. 2007. Kentucky Resources to Meet the Energy Needs of the 25x25 Initiative. College of Agriculture, University of Kentucky. Cooke, Stephen C. 2007. Cyclical Deficits and State General Fund Revenue Forecasts: A Case Study of Idaho, 1998-2010, Research Bulletin 168, University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Moscow, Idaho. Davis, E.E. and S.A. Bosley. 2007. The Impact of the 1990s Economic Boom on Less-Educated Workers in Rural America. Journal of the Community Develoment Society 38(1): 59-73. Davis, E.E., D. Grobe, and R.B. Weber. 2007. Participation and Employment Dynamics of Child Care Subsidy Users in Rural and Urban Oregon. RPRC Working Paper 07-01, Rural Poverty Research Center. Davis, E.E. and M. Jefferys. 2007. Child Care Subsidies, Low-Wage Work and Economic Development. International Journal of Economic Development (forthcoming). Deller, Steven C and Melissa Deller. 2007. Shifting Patterns in Wisconsin Crime. Sociological Imagination 43(1): 18-51. Deller, Steven C and Victor Lledo. 2007. Amenities and Rural Appalachian Growth. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 36(1): 107-132. Deller, Steven C. Maher, Craig and Victor Lledo. 2007. Wisconsin Local Governments, State Shared Revenues and the Illusive Flypaper Effect. Public Budgeting, Accounting and Fiscal Management 19(2): 201-221. Dwyer, J. and J.L. Findeis. 2007. Human and Social Capital in Rural Development EU and US Perspectives. Eurochoices (in press). Eades, D., D.L., Barkley, and M.S. Henry. 2007. South Carolinas Textile and Apparel Industries: An Analysis of Trends in Traditional and Emerging Sectors. UCED Research Report 12-2007-1, EDA University Center for Economic Development, Clemson University. www.clemson.edu/uced. Fallah, Belal and Mark D. Partridge. 2007. The Elusive Inequality-Economic Growth Relationship: Are there Differences between Cities and the Countryside? Annals of Regional Science, 41: 375-400. Ferguson, Mark, Kamar Ali, M. Rose Olfert, Mark D. Partridge. 2007. Voting with their Feet: Jobs Versus Amenities. Growth and Change 38(Winter): 77-110. Findeis, J.L. and S. Shresthra. 2007. Transitions Across the Rural Landscape: Human Capital Endowments and Rural Policy. Wye '07 Workshop on Rural Development Policy and Prospects, Imperial College, Wye, UK. http://rurdev.aers.psu.edu/workshop papers.htm. Gabe, Todd M. 2007. Forward: Special Issue on Opportunities and Challenges Facing the Rural Creative Economy. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 36(1). Gabe, Todd M. 2007. Local Economic Instability and Business Location: The Case of Maine. Land Economics 83(3). Gabe, Todd M. 2007. Effects of Hollywood Slots on Bangor-Area Restaurant and Lodging Sales. School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 569. Gabe, Todd M. 2007. Market Potential for a Proposed Casino in Calais, Maine. School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 568. Gabe, Todd M., Kristen Colby and Kathleen Bell. 2007. The Effects of Workforce Creativity on Earnings in U.S. Counties. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 36(1). Gabe, Todd M., Colleen Lynch, James McConnon and Thomas Allen. 2007. Cruisers: What They Do When They Get Off the Ship, in R. Neil Moisey and William Norman (eds.), Beating the Odds with Tourism Research. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Travel and Tourism Research Association, Las Vegas, NV. Goetz, S.J. 2007. Self-Employment: The New Rural Reality, in Lionel Beaulieu (ed.), Rural Realities. The Rural Sociological Society (in press). Goetz, S.J. 2007. The Economic Case for State-Level Land Use Decision-Making. Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 37(1): 20-24. Goetz, S.J. and A. Rupasingha. 2007. Determinants and Implications of Growth in Non-farm Proprietorship Densities: 1990-2000. Journal of Small Business Economics (in press). Grassmueck, G., S.J. Goetz and M. Shields. 2007. Youth Out-Migration from Pennsylvania: The Roles of Government Fragmentation vs. the Beaten Path Effect. Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy (in press). Grobe, D., R.B. Weber, and E.E. Davis. 2007. Why Do They Leave? Child Care Subsidy Use in Oregon. Journal of Family and Economic Issues (in press). Henry, M.S., D.L. Barkley, and D. Eades. 2007. The Contribution of the Textile and Apparel Cluster to the SC Economy. UCED Research Report 12-2007-02, EDA University Center for Economic Development, Clemson University. www.clemson.edu/uced. Krantz, S., J.L. Findeis, and S.S. Shrestha. 2007. The Use of the Revised Diet Quality Index for Children to Assess Preschoolers' Diet Quality, Its Sociodemographic Predictors, and Its Association with Body Weight Status. Jornal de Pediatria (forthcoming). Johnson, Thomas G. 2007. Place-Based Economic Policy: Innovation or Fad. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review (forthcoming). Johnson, Thomas G. 2007. Measuring the Benefits of Entrepreneurship Development Policy. Journal of Entrepreneurial Development (forthcoming). Leistritz, F. Larry, Nancy M. Hodur, Donald M. Senechal, Mark D. Stowers, Darold McCalla, and Chris M. Saffron. 2007. Biorefineries Using Agricultural Residue Feedstock in the Great Plains. AAE 07001. Fargo: NDSU, Department of Agribusiness & Applied Economics. Lunak, Michal and Morris, Douglas E. Morris. 2007. The Impact of Cattle Farming on the New Hampshire Economy (Abstract). Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 36( 2). Maher, Craig and Steven C. Deller. 2007. Municipal Responses to Fiscal Stress. International Journal of Public Administration 30(12): 1549 - 1572 Markley, D.M., D.L. Barkley, and D. Lamie. 2007. Case Studies of E-commerce Activity in Rural and Small Town Businesses. UCED Research Report,, EDA University Center for Economic Development, Clemson University. www.clemson.edu/uced. Morris, Douglas E., Lyndon Goodridge and Mark Kilens. 2007. Linking Market-Valued Community Skill Profiles with Corporate Outsourced Functions to Identify Financially Attractive Rural Sourcing Targets( Abstract). Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 36(2). Partridge, Mark D. 2007. Rural Economic Development Prospects in a High Energy Cost Environment. Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 37(1): 44-47. Partridge, Mark D., Ray Bollman, M. Rose Olfert and Alessandro Alasia. 2007. Riding the Wave of Urban Growth in the Countryside: Spread, Backwash, or Stagnation, Land Economics, 83(2): 128-152. Partridge, Mark, Jill Clark, and Ayesha Enver. 2007 Growth and Change: Employment Growth, Future Prospects, and Change at the Ohio Rural-Urban Interface. The Exurban Change Project and Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy Summary Report, October. www.aede.osu.edu/programs/Swank. Partridge, Mark D. and Dan S. Rickman. 2007. Canadian Regional Evolutions: A Structural Vector Autoregression Analysis of Jobs vs. People and Labour Market Dynamics. Applied Economics (forthcoming). Partridge, Mark D. and Dan S. Rickman. 2007. CGE Modeling for Regional Economic Development Analysis. Regional Studies (in press). Partridge, Mark D. and Dan S. Rickman. 2007. Distance from Urban Agglomeration Economies and Rural Poverty. Journal of Regional Science (forthcoming) Partridge, Mark D. and Dan S. Rickman. 2007. Persistent Pockets of Extreme American Poverty and Job Growth: Is there a Place Based Policy Role? Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 32(April): 201-224. Partridge, Mark D. and Dan S. Rickman. 2007. Persistent Rural Poverty: Is it Simply Remoteness and Scale. Review of Agricultural Economics 29(Fall): 430-437. Partridge, Mark D. and Dan S. Rickman. 2007. Place-Based Policy and Rural Poverty: Insights from the Urban Spatial Mismatch Literature. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society (forthcoming). Partridge, Mark D., Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali and M. Rose Olfert. 2007. The Geographic Diversity of U.S. Nonmetropolitan Growth Dynamics: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach. Land Economics (forthcoming). Partridge, Mark D., Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali and M. Rose Olfert. 2007 The Landscape of Urban Influence on U.S. County Job Growth. Review of Agricultural Economics 29: 381-389. Partridge, Mark, Jeff Sharp, and Jill Clark. 2007 Growth and Change: Population Change in Ohio and its Rural-Urban Interface. The Exurban Change Project and Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy Summary Report. www.aede.osu.edu/programs/Swank. Rainey, Daniel V. and Biswaranjan R. Das. 2007. Measuring the Incidence of the New Food Tax in Arkansas: A Computable General Equilibrium Approach. Final Report to Policy Issues and Education Center. Renkow, Mitch. 2007. Employment Growth and the Allocation of New Jobs: Spatial Spillovers of Economic and Fiscal Impacts. Review of Agricultural Economics 29(3): 396-402. Renkow, Mitch. 2007. Infrastructure Investment and Rural Development, in Bruce L. Gardner and Daniel A. Sumner (eds.), The 2007 Farm Bill and Beyond: Summary for Policymakers. Washington, DC: The AEI Press, pp. 135-139. Renkow, Mitch. 2007. Infrastructure Investment and Rural Development, in Bruce L. Gardner and Daniel A. Sumner (eds.), Agricultural Policy for 2007 Farm Bill and Beyond. Washington, DC: The AEI Press (forthcoming). Renkow, Mitch. 2007. Federal Rural Infrastructure Investment: Is It Worthwhile? NC State Economist (July). Rickman, Dan S. and Mark D. Partridge 2007. Does a Rising Tide Lift All Metropolitan Boats? Assessing Poverty Dynamics by Metropolitan Size and County Type, Growth and Change (forthcoming). Rupasingha, A. and S.J. Goetz. 2007. Social and Political Forces as Determinants of Poverty. Journal of Socio-Economics 36(4): 650-671. Shrestha, S. 2007. Essays on Childhood Nutritional Deprivation in Nepal and Off-farm Employment in the United States: Multi-level and Spatial Econometric Modeling Approach. Ph.D. Dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 215 pp. Shrestha, S. S., S.J. Goetz, and A. Rupasingha. 2007. Proprietorship Formations and US Job Growth. Review of Regional Studies (in press). Slack, T. and L. Jensen. 2007. Underemployment Across Immigrant Generations. Social Science Research 36(4): 1415-1430. Stenberg, Peter. 2007. "An Overview of the Internet and Agriculture E-Commerce in the United States," in Widi Hardjono et al (Eds.), Utilization of the Agricultural Technology Transfer and Training Networking System, APEC Secretariat, pp.128-39. Stenberg, Peter, and Mitchell Morehart. 2007. Age in the Internet Age: Is the Age of the Farm Operator a Factor in On-line Business Use. Paper presented to Telecommunication Policy Research Conference, Arlington, VA. Stenberg, Peter, and Mitchell Morehart. 2007. Spatially Dispersed Economic Actors and the Internet: Does Distance Matter?  Paper presented at the annual meeting of the RSAI, Savannah, Georgia. Stenberg, Peter, and Mitchell Morehart. 2007. "The Internet in the Farm and Rural Economic Sectors. Paper presented at the Western Regional Science Association Meeting, Newport Beach, CA. Stenberg, Peter, and Mitchell Morehart. 2007. "The Internet in U.S. Farm and Rural Businesses," in Irene Johansson (Eds.), Entrepreneurship and Development-Local Processes and Global Patterns, University West, Sweden, pp. 501-512. Trostel, Philip and Todd M. Gave. Fiscal and Economic Effects of College Attainment. School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 566. Tunceli, O. 2007. Labor Market Transitions of Involuntary Part-time Workers: How Hard is it to Get Back to Full-time Jobs? Ph.D. Dissertation. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 173 pp. Weber, Bruce, Alexander Marre, Monica Fisher, Robert Gibbs and John Cromartie. 2007. Educations Effect on Poverty: The Role of Migration, Review of Agricultural Economics, 29(3): 437-445. Weber, Bruce A. 2007. Rural Poverty: Why Should States Care and What Can State Policy Do? Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Vol. 37(1): 48-52, 2007. Zeuli, Kimberly and Steven C. Deller. 2007. Measuring the Local Economic Impact of Cooperatives. Journal of Rural Cooperatives 35(1): 1-17.