This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0160017609336090v1 32/3/300    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Isserman, A. M. Articles by Warren, D. E. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Why Some Rural Places Prosper and Others Do Not

Departments of Agricultural and Consumer, Economics and Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, isserman{at}illinois.edu

Edward Feser

Departments of Urban and Regional Planning and Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, feser{at}illinois.edu

Drake E. Warren

Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, dewarre{at}sandia.gov

More than 300 rural counties are more prosperous than the nation. Each has lower unemployment rates, lower poverty rates, lower school dropout rates, and better housing conditions than the nation. Prosperous counties tend to have more educated populations, more diverse economies, more private non-farm jobs, more farmers and government farm payments, more creative class occupations, and more equal income distributions. They have fewer African-American, American Indian, or Hispanic residents and fewer recent immigrants. Some findings support what many rural people believe to be true: civically engaged religious groups and other identities that bind people together can really matter. Other results contradict conventional wisdom. For instance, climate and distances to cities and major airports, are relatively unimportant. Focusing on prosperity, instead of growth or competitiveness, provides new insights into rural conditions and prospects.

Key Words: regional development • rural development • place prosperity • economic development • creative class • social capital

This version was published on July 1, 2009

International Regional Science Review, Vol. 32, No. 3, 300-342 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0160017609336090


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?