Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Meeting began at 1 p.m., MST.

1. Motion was made, seconded, and moved to approve minutes from NE 1049 2016
Meeting in Washington, DC

2. Discussion about incoming secretary/vice chair. Mike Betz of the Ohio State University
was noted as having interest. Mike later arrived at the meeting and confirmed this. He is
now the incoming vice chair/secretary and will move into the slot next year when John
Halstead Becomes Chair.

3. Dave Shideler noted that our new project director is David Leibovitz. Our Project
Advisor is Tim Phipps at West Virginia University.

4. Discussion then turned to whether the group believed we should submit NE 1049 for an
Award of Excellence. General sentiment was that we should, although someone will
need to take a leadership role. We would be able to work from the project’s termination
report, which is due 90 days after 1049’s project end date of 9/30/2017.

5. Project renewal. NE 1049 is scheduled to end this year, and we need to put together a
new project proposal. Dave Shideler has agreed to take the lead in completing our
project termination report.
A major issue brought up was that we don’t yet have an idea of what the priorities of
Secretary of Agriculture nominee Purdue (who has not yet been confirmed) will be; this
in turn will presumably drive USDA’s priorities in research and outreach, as well as the
various USDA undersecretary selections. The group agreed to ask for a one-year extension of the current project under its current goals. This request would need to go to Tim Phipps. With these issues in mind, the group discussed how we could make progress in drafting a new proposal; some of the key points/possible project foci raised follow.
 (general comment) We need to construct a template which is flexible enough to fit USDA’s priorities, then fit individual state project to project goals
 There is a proliferation of health care issues, and much uncertainty with current activity in congress, that has the potential to greatly affect rural areas
 Changes in labor availability in rural areas is a potential area for research, also related to possible federal proposals. If labor becomes more expensive, more automation may result. This can affect economic distortion, labor participation rates, economic goal setting, etc. at the community level
 How changes in federal policies/federal land management will affect income and employment/issues of transfer of ownership from federal to state government, effects on taxation at the local/state level. Other issues of public land policy, especially water policy.
 Movement away from extractive industries to retirement/tourism based economies in rural areas; opposite effect with fracking areas?
 Oil/fracking; threshold price of oil to make fracking viable; regulatory effects
 Resilience as key factor; what did we learn from last recession
 Energy in more general terms e.g. renewables, issues of regional vs. local energy storage for solar. How can rural area participate? Who wants higher oil prices?
 Solar power—interaction between weather and output; link into “traditional” energy suppliers
 Clean energy development and effects on rural counties
 Local/regional effects of renewable energy pipelines, powerlines, etc. developed. Noted that MIT has a paper on incentives for wind energy.
 Do we want to continue focus on local foods? Probably want to wait until we know USDA’s priorities. Rural entrepreneurship is a broader area of research which encompass food but also tourism/ recreation.
 Refining tools of analysis: IMPLAN, CGE—model to affect modeling efforts—agriculture and forestry models. Need production function to build region specific models.
 Set of representative counties to build REMI-CGE-COMPAS type models for general use
 Should we revisit COMPAS approach? Public open access implant? “median county” model? Like the open source modeling done by West Virginia (IO-Snap)? Should we work this into a larger NIFA grant?
 Retirement/wealth distribution issues. With the retirement of the first generation to fully embrace individual retirement accounts, there may be an intergenerational shift in wealth which didn’t occur with e.g. pensions.

6. Next year’s meeting place for NE 1049. Western Regional Science Meetings are in Pasadena, California. Southern Regional Science Association has not yet announced a location but presumably will at their upcoming annual meeting at the end of March.

7. Station Reports. A round table presentation was made by attendees on completed and ongoing research.

8. The current chair will obtain approval for next year’s meeting as well as find a room at the meeting site and prepare the annual/terminal report (depending on approval of an extension).
djourned 3:22 p.m. MST.

Annual Accomplishment Highlights:

In 2016, researchers of NE-1049 have made steady progress in the two primary research areas: local/regional foods and Community Resilience and Natural/Human-Made Disasters.

Objective 1 - Local / Regional Foods:

The team of researchers associated with NE-1049 are conducting various research analyzing the local/regional food systems from different perspectives.

Researchers in Colorado and Oklahoma evaluate the role of small and mid-size farms and their impacts in local and regional food systems, as well as the rural economic impacts of local food systems. Researchers in Colorado also acquired a Cooperative Agreement with the USDA-Ag Marketing Service to develop a toolkit to assess the Outreach, Training and Proof of Concept of USDA AMS Economic Impact Assessment. They also started to examine market channels for Colorado fruit and vegetable growers. Additionally, the researchers in Colorado are collaborating with researchers in University of California at Davis and University of Northern Colorado to develop an integrated approach to agritourism development in the western US.

Researchers in New Hampshire continue their efforts on a NIFA-funded project to assess the potential for local food production and the constraints faced by suppliers of produce grown in northern New England: Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Their survey, currently in the field, uses contingent choice modeling on food characteristics to identify “status quo bias” and spatial dimensions associated with local food systems.

Researchers in Idaho are investigating the local food system by examining the role of intermediaries in the food system. They are currently conducting a survey on restaurants and stores in order to examining the role of intermediaries in local food system.

Researchers in Oregon are comparing SNAP benefits program designs across states to understand the participation differences between states.

Researchers in Ohio investigate the importance of human capital formation, improved local economic development policymaking and efforts to promote best-case energy development from unconventional energy resources.

Objective 2 – Community Resilience and Natural / Human-made Disasters:

Researchers in NE-1049 are actively investigating the differences in community resilience to natural disasters, natural resource extraction, fiscal policies and/or government institutions, and health.

Research on resilience to natural disasters focused on resilience to floods and tornadoes. Researchers in Michigan examined fatalities arising from tornadoes and floods nationally, while researchers in Georgia evaluated the real property impacts associated with flood mitigation.

Impacts from natural resource extraction were evaluated in four states: Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and Oklahoma. Nevada researchers examined how lithium mining and associated development impacts sage grouse habitat. Ohio researchers examined how boom and bust demographic impacts differed in communities affected by recent oil/gas exploration. Oregon researchers explored how rural communities are adapting to climate change. Oklahoma researchers estimated county impacts from oil/gas exploration and began studying how water availability might impact economic development.

Resilience arising from fiscal policy and/or government institutions was researched by project members in Wisconsin, Nevada, Oregon and Oklahoma. Wisconsin researchers investigated the impact of tax and expenditure limits (TELs) on government resiliency by cataloging the unintended consequences associated with these fiscal policies. Nevada researchers investigated the impacts associated with different government institutions. Oregon researchers examined the spatial evolution of municipal government structures and how this evolution might affect a community’s resilience to natural disasters. Oklahoma researchers examined the effects broadband can have on marginalized populations. Colorado researchers defined new measures to implement the Community Capitals framework.

Research in Michigan also examined how Google searches can predict suicide rates as a potential indicator of mental health, while Ohio researchers examined the effects of opioid addiction on economic development potential across counties.

Other Significant Accomplishments:

Awards:

1. Judy Stallman received the Vice Chancellor of Extension’s Award for Outstanding Achievement at University of Missouri in October 2016 for her work on fiscal issues in rural communities and at the state level.
2. Dave Shideler, Oklahoma State University, was honored with the Southern Agricultural Economics Association’s Outstanding Individual Extension Program for his work on economic development.
3. Mindy Crandall was awarded a USDA-NIFA AFRI grant focusing on youth and labor market transitions in rural areas.

Impacts

1. Research findings from NE-1049 members have been featured in many popular outlets, including media interviews at local, state and national levels.
2. NE-1049 members are invited to present their research findings in international, national, regional and local venues and to both academic audiences and stake holders at various levels.
3. NE-1049 members have advised government and non-government agencies in their policy development, review, and implementation.
4. The work of NE-1049 researchers has resulted in additional grant funding in 2016 to support the research objectives of the group and graduate students.

NE-1049 Publications

April 2016-March 2017

Anderson III, J. L. and M. S. Crandall. 2016. “Economic Contributions of Maine’s Forest Products Industry in 2014, with adjustments to 2016.” Report prepared for the Maine Forest Products Council, 11p.

Atreya, Ajita, Susana Ferreira and Warren Kriesel , “Forgetting the Flood? Changes in Flood Risk Perceptions over Time.”  Land Economics, 89(4): 577-596. 2013.

Atreya, Ajita, Warren Kriesel, and Jeffery Mullen. “Valuing Open Space in a Marshland Environment: Development Alternatives for Coastal Georgia.”  Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Vol. 48, No. 4: 383-402. 2016

Backman, M., T. Gabe and C. Mellander. “Effects of Human Capital on the Growth and Survival of Swedish Businesses.” Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Vol. 46, No.1, 2016.

Bauman, A. and D. Thilmany. “Exploring Localized Economic Dynamics: Methods Driven Case Studies of Transformation and Growth in Agricultural and Food Markets.” Economic Development Quarterly. Forthcoming.

Breece, J., G. Mills, and T. Gabe. “The Economic Implications of Maine’s Changing Age Structure.” Maine Policy Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2015.

Brooks, L. and B. Whitacre.  “The Economic Impact of Rural Hospitals on the Oklahoma Economy.”  Report for the Oklahoma State Office of Rural Health.  May 2016.  13 pp. 

Carey, Mary A., and Thomas G. Johnson. 2016. “Ireland’s Input-Output Framework – where are the regions?” Borderlands: The Journal of Spatial Planning in Ireland. In press.

Carvajal, Lidia and Thomas G. Johnson. 2016. Impacts of Remittances from Canada's Seasonal Workers Program on Mexican Farms. International Labour Review. 155(2):297-314.

Chen, Yunguang, Yong Chen, B. Weber, J. Reimer, "A Sub-County, Multi-Regional Computable General Equilibrium Model for the Assessment of Regional Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and Resilience Plans." 55th Meeting of the Southern Regional Science Association, Washington D.C., March 31-April 2, 2016.

Conley, K. and B. Whitacre.  “The Downside of Rural Broadband.”  The Daily Yonder, September 1, 2016.

Conley, K. and B. Whitacre. 2016.  “Does Broadband Matter for Rural Entrepreneurs or ‘Creative Class’ Employees?”  Review of Regional Studies, 46(2): 171-190. Available at: http://journal.srsa.org/ojs/index.php/RRS/article/view/46.2.4

Crandall, M. “Youth Aspirations and Labor Market Transitions in Rural Communities (2017–2020).” Sponsor: USDA-NIFA, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

Crandall, M. and J. Leahy. Local Labor Markets and Rural Youth Aspirations in Forest-Dependent Communities. Applied Economics – Economic Development working group, Oregon State University, May 2016, Corvallis OR.

Crandall, M. S., D. Adams, C. A. Montgomery, and D. Smith. 2017. “The Potential Rural Development Impacts of Utilizing Non-Merchantable Forest Biomass.” Forest Economics and Policy, 74: 20-29. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2016.11.002.

Cuthbertson, C. A., C. J. Newkirk, J. L. Ilardo, S.T. Loveridge, and M. L. Skidmore. 2016. “Angry, scared, and unsure: Mental health consequences of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan.” Journal of Urban Health. Available from: http://rdcu.be/miyu doi:10.1007/s11524-016-0089-y.

Dinterman, R. F. and M. Renkow. 2017. “Evaluation of USDA's Broadband Loan Program: Impacts on Broadband Provision.” Telecommunications Policy, 41(2): 140-153.

Dyar, W., J. Lim, and M. L. Skidmore (2017).  “Manufactured Home Living across Rural America,” book chapter in Affordable Housing in Rural America edited by Don Albrecht. Published by Routledge.

Edwards, M., C. Heflin, P. Mueser, S. Porter, and B. Weber. “The Great Recession and SNAP Caseloads: A Tale of Two States.” Journal of Poverty, DOI: 10.1080/10875549.2015.1094770 20(3): 261-277. 2016.

Figueroa-Armijos, Maria and Thomas G. Johnson. 2016. “Entrepreneurship policy and economic growth, solution or delusion? Evidence from a state initiative.” Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal 47(1): DOI 10.1007/s11187-016-9750-9.

Gabe, T. “Effects of the October 2013 U.S. Federal Government Shutdown on National Park Gateway Communities: The Case of Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine.” Applied Economics Letters, Vol. 23, No. 5, 2016.

Gabe, T. “Estimating the Percentages of Local Jobs Impacted by Minimum Wage Hikes Proposed in Bangor and Portland, Maine.” School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 620, October 2015.

Gabe, T. “The High Seasonality of Tourism in Maine.” School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 621, October 2015.

Gabe, T. and J. McConnon. “Economic Contribution of Maine’s Aquaculture Industry.” School of Economics, University of Maine, Staff Paper 623, April 2016.

Gabe, T. M. and J. R. Abel, “Shared Knowledge and the Coagglomeration of Occupations.” Regional Studies, Vol. 50, No. 8, 2016.

Hodge, T., D. McMillen, G. Sands, and M. L. Skidmore. 2016. “Assessment Inequity in a Declining Housing Market: The Case of Detroit.” Real Estate Economics.

Johnston, D. M.S. Thesis.  “The Influence of Oil and Gas on Local Retail Sales and Use Tax Receipts:  Evidence from Oklahoma Panel Data.”  83 pp.  Defended April 2016.

Kandilov, A., I. Kandilov, X. Liu, and M. Renkow. 2017. “The Impact of Broadband on U.S. Agriculture: An Evaluation of the USDA Broadband Loan Program.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 39: in press.

Kang, S., L. A. Reese, and M. L. Skidmore. 2016. “Do Industrial Tax Abatements Spur Property Value Growth?” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 35(2), 388-414.

Krafft, C., E. E. Davis and K. Tout. 2017. “Child Care Subsidies and the Stability and Quality of Child Care Arrangements.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 39 (2017): 14-34. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.12.002.

Kriesel, Warren, Constance Crawley and Maria Bowie, “Who Benefits Most From an On-Line Fitness Program? The Walk Georgia Experience.”  Journal of Extension, 51(4), accessed at http://www.joe.org/joe/2013august/rb6.php . 2013.

Lee, H. J.  M.S. Thesis.  “The FCC’s Low-Income Broadband Pilot Program:  Lessons Learned and Implications for Future Policies.”  41 pp.  Defended April 2016. 

Lim, J., S. T. Loveridge, R. S. Shupp, and M. L. Skidmore. 2016. “Double danger in the double wide: Poverty, housing quality and tornado impacts.” Regional Science and Urban Economics.

Lim, S. H. and L. Zhang. 2016. “Does Casino Development Have a Positive Effect on Economic Growth?” Growth and Change. DOI: 10.1111/growth.12182.

Lim, S. H. and P. Turner. 2016. “Airline Fuel Hedging: Do Hedge Horizon and Contract Maturity Matter?” Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, 55(1): 29-49.

Liu, Zuoming, Ira Altman and Thomas G. Johnson. 2016. “The Moderating Role of Biomass Availability in Biopower Co-firing ── A Sensitivity Analysis in Missouri.” Journal of Cleaner Production. 135(1): 523-532.

Maher, C. S., S. C. Deller, J. I. Stallmann and S. Park. 2016. “The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Limits on Municipal Credit Ratings.”  American Review of Public Administration, 46(5):592-613.

Maher, C. S., S. C. Deller, S. Park and J. I. Stallmann.  “The Effects of Tax and Expenditure Limits on State Fiscal Reserves.”  Public Policy and Administration.  32(2):130-151.  2017.  First published, Aug 2, 2106.

Manlove, J. and B. Whitacre.  “The Short-term Economic Impact of Rural Hospital Closures.”  Selected paper presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Mobile, AL Feb 5- 8, 2017.

Mishra, Bhawani, Shriniwas Gautam, Thomas G. Johnson. 2016. “A Spatial Analysis of Creative Class Worker Growth Convergence in US Counties.” Romanian Journal of Regional Science. 10(1):41-66.

Mossberger, K., J. Horrigan, C. Rhinesmith, and B. Whitacre.  “Developing a National Broadband Research Agenda.”  Webinar for Benton Foundation and Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition.  Sep. 29, 2016.

Mu, J. E. and Y. Chen. 2016. “Impacts of large natural disasters on regional income.” Natural Hazards, 83 (3):1485-1503.

Pagani, Marco, Matteo Vittuari, Thomas G Johnson, Fabio De Menna. 2016. “An assessment of the energy footprint of dairy farms in Missouri and Emilia-Romagna.” Agricultural Systems 145: 116–126.

Pagani, Marco, Thomas G. Johnson, and Matteo Vittuari. 2017. “Energy input in conventional and organic rice production in Missouri and Italy:  a comparative case study.” Journal of Environmental Management. 188:173-182.

Park, Y.S., S.H. Lim, G. Egilmez and J. Szmerekovsky. 2016. “Environmental Efficiency Assessment of U.S. Transport Sector: A Slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis Approach.” Transportation Research Part D: Transportation and Environment. DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2016.09.009.

Parker, J. A., C. A. Cuthbertson, S.T. Loveridge, M. L. Skidmore, and W. Dyer. 2016. “Forecasting state-level premature deaths from alcohol, drugs, and suicides using Google trends data.” Journal of Affective Disorders.

Peek, G., L. D. Sanders, D. Shideler, T. Halihan, C. Penn and K. Neurohr. 2016. “Evaluating the Impacts of Oil and Gas Activity: Hydraulic Fracturing in Selected Oklahoma Counties.” OCES Current Report E-1041.

Poudel, Krishna Lal, Thomas G. Johnson and Rachna Tewari. 2016. Property Rights and Sustainable Natural Resource Management. Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. 5(2): 1-11.

Shrestha, Rudra Bahadur, Wen-Chi Huang, Shriniwas Gautam, and Thomas G. Johnson. 2016. Efficiency of small scale vegetable farms: Policy implications for rural poverty reduction in Nepal." Agricultural Economics-Zemědělská ekonomika 62(4): 181-195.

Skidmore, M. L. 2017. “Economics of Natural Disasters.” In International Library of Critical Writings in Economics.  Published by Edward Elgar.

Skidmore, M. L., and W. Dyar. January 2016. “Examining Trends to Predict Future Fiscal Needs.”  Michigan Township Focus.

Skidmore, M. L., G. R. Anderson, and M. Eiswerth. 2016. “The child Adoption Marketplace: Parental Preferences and Adoption Outcomes.” Public Finance Review, 44(2), 163-196.

Skidmore, M. L., G. Sands, and T. Hodge. 2017. Land values a (nearly) Collapsed Real Estate Market. Land Economics.

Stallmann, J. I. and J. Rossi.  “Missouri's Third Class County Budget Trend Analysis, 1996-2013. (Spreadsheet).”  University of Missouri Extension:  DM4011.   June, 2016.  http://outreach.missouri.edu/p/DM4011  

Stallmann, J. I. and J. Rossi.  “Missouri's Third Class County Budget Trend Analysis: 1996-2013 Workbook User’s Manual.”  University of Missouri Extension:  DM4010.   June, 2016.  http://outreach.missouri.edu/p/DM4010

Stallmann, J. I., S. C. Deller and C. Maher. “Tax Lids and Tax and Expenditure Limitations: What Does the Research Tell Us?” Invited Keynote Address. Midwest Public Finance Conference. Wichita State University, April 28, 2016.

Taylor, J. and B. Whitacre.  “Finding the Most Significant Determinants of Academic Success in the Oklahoma Public School System.”  Poster presentation for Wentz Projects (undergraduate research program), Oklahoma State University.  April 15, 2016.

Thilmany, D. “Preparing for Food Security in an Age of Limited Natural Resources: A Focus on Water.” LiveWell Colorado and Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council Webinar. January 2016.

Thilmany, D., J. Laughlin, S. Warshawer, and J. O’Hara. “Using Benchmarks to Develop Local Food System Businesses.” Organized Session for the 2016 FDRS Conference.

Van Sandt, A. and D. Thilmany. “How to Cater your Agritourism Enterprise to Travelers: Exploring Differences in Traveler Demand in the Western U.S.” November 2016.

Van Sandt, A. and D. Thilmany. “Mapping the Western US Agritourism Industry: How do Travel Patterns vary by Location?” CSU DARE Economic Development Report. July 2016.

Van Sandt, A., S. Low and D. Thilmany. “A Spatial Analysis of Agritourism in the US: What’s Driving Clusters of Enterprises?” Submitted to the American Economic Perspectives and Policy.

Weber, B. A. and D. Freshwater. 2016. “The Death of Distance? Networks, The Costs of Distance and Urban-Rural Interdependence.” Chapter 13 in International Handbook of Rural Studies. Mark Shucksmith and David L. Brown, coeditors. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Weber, B. A., J. M. Fannin, S. M. Cordes and T. G. Johnson. “Upward Mobility of Low-income Youth in Metropolitan, Micropolitan and Rural America.” Presented at a conference on the rural urban interface at the University of Pennsylvania.

Whitacre, B.  “Broadband Internet can help rural communities connect – if they use it.”  The Conversation, February 23, 2017. 

Whitacre, B.  “Internet Options for Low-Income Households in Oklahoma.”  Oklahoma State University Extension Fact Sheet AGEC-1065.  December 2016.  6 pp.

Whitacre, B.  2017.  “Fixed Broadband or Mobile:  What Makes Us More Civically Engaged?”  Telematics and Informatics, 34(5): 755-766.  Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073658531630630X

Whitacre, B.  2017.  “The Influence of the Degree of Rurality on EMR Adoption, by Physician Specialty.”  Health Services Research, 52(2): 616-633. Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6773.12510/abstract

Whitacre, B. “Technology is improving – why is rural broadband access still a problem?”  The Conversation, June 8, 2016. 

Whitacre, B. and J. Manlove.  “Use of Broadband Linked to Greater Levels of Civic Engagement.”  The Daily Yonder, September 22, 2016.  

Whitacre, B. and J. Taylor.  “Oklahoma High School Achievement – Do Small Schools Perform Better or Worse?”  Oklahoma State University Extension Current Report AGEC-1061.  June 2016.  4 pp. 

Whitacre, B. and Manlove, J.  2016. “Broadband and Civic Engagement in Rural Areas:  What Matters?”  Community Development, 47(5): 700-717.  Available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15575330.2016.1212910

Whitacre, B., D. Shideler, and R. Williams.  2016.  “Do Incentive Programs Cause Growth?  The Case of the Oklahoma Quality Jobs Program and Community-level Economic Growth.”  Economic Development Quarterly, 30(1): 62-74. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891242415614641

Whitacre, B., E. Frederick, and K. Cole.  “Broadband and Economic Development:  Research and On-the-ground Examples.”  Webinar for National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)’s Broadband USA Initiative.  Nov. 16, 2016.

Whitacre, B., L. Brooks, D. Wheeler, and C. Landgraf.  “The National Broadband Map and the Rural – Urban Healthcare Connectivity Gap.”  Poster presentation for the National Rural Health Association’s Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.  May 10-12, 2016.

Whitacre, B., R. Gallardo, and C. Hancock.  “e-Strategies Overview:  Research and Programming Advice on Broadband and Its Impact on Rural Places.”  Presented to Purdue Center for Regional Development e-Strategies Team.  Lafayette, Indiana.  Sep. 27-28, 2016.

Wu, J., B. A. Weber and M. D. Partridge. “Rural-Urban Interdependence: A Framework Integrating Regional, Urban and Environmental Economic Insights.”

Wu, J., Y. Chen. 2016. “The Evolution of Municipal Structure.” Journal of Economic Geography, 16 (4):917-940.