Wealth Building Strategies in Rural States: Are They Doing Enough?

If the poor and near-poor Americans are to achieve lasting economic advancement, we need to promote a path that provides a better “starting gate,” as well as helps individuals and families to weather economic hardships. In our view, asset building is key. This is true for rural as well as urban households. The purpose of this paper is to undertake an initial and rough assessment of asset building efforts in rural states. It begins by setting the scene through short discussions of why broadened asset ownership matters, how has the United States supported opportunity-enhancing asset policies in the past, and what the federal government is doing today to advance this agenda. We then argue that the current fiscal distress faced by our national government hinders it from playing a larger role. So, during the next decade, innovative states are the most likely candidates to be the champion of more inclusive asset policies and a major public investor. Next, we compare state-by-state the assets base of their citizenry and the policies that can help or hinder their ability to get ahead. Following this, we analyze the current practice of America’s 15 most rural states. The paper concludes with a brief series of suggestions for rural asset policymakers, advocates, and practitioners. There is also a thesis that runs through this paper. The American Dream rests on two pillars: first, a family’s ability to build assets that can be used to invest for the future, send children to college, and weather unexpected financial storms; and second, safety nets and safeguards that provide financial security in the event of a job loss, medical emergency, or other life events that could otherwise put a family into a tailspin

Business climate and the role of development incentives

Economic development ; Industrial policy

Solving the Problems of Economic Development Incentives

This paper reviews the research literature relevant to economic development incentives provided by state and local governments, and recommends reforms in these incentives. I argue that the main problem with current incentive policies is that state and local governments often provide incentives that are not in the best interest of that state or local area, for example that are excessively costly per job created, or that provide jobs that do not improve the job opportunities of local residents. I suggest that reforms should be "bottom-up" rather than "top-down." Regulation of incentives by the federal government may prevent both desirable and undesirable incentives. "Bottom-up" reforms would include more information on incentive offers, a budget constraint on the volume of incentives, stronger standards for job quality and job accessibility for the local unemployed, and better benefit-cost analyses of incentives. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

The Winners' Choice: Sustainable Economic Strategies for Successful 21st-Century Regions

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, urbanization, new technologies, rapid labor-saving productivity growth in primary industries, and improved highways combined to create large-scale regions which are now functionally integrated at the rural-urban level. These forces have raised the stakes for regions in their pursuit of economic development and growth, making successful regional policy even more important. Changes to the governance structures consistent with the increased interdependence within broad rural-urban regions will improve the region's competitiveness; adopting fad-based approaches and policies aimed at “picking winners” will be less fruitful. Going forward, continuing globalization and environmental sustainability have the potential to reshape fundamentally the relative attractiveness of regions. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.