Curtis Braschler

Rural industrialization and community action: New plant locations among Missouri's small towns

Abstract Small communities in Missouri can influence their attractiveness for new manufacturing plants, according to this study of new plant locations during 1972 through 1974 among Missouri towns of less than 5,000 population. Major location factors subject to community control include sewer capacity, zoning, general aviation airports, vocational‐technical schools, fire protection, and an active industrial development organization.

Estimation of Employment Multipliers for Planning in Ozarks Nonmetropolitan Counties

Planning for regional growth and development must necessarily be contingent upon population growth or decline expected for the region in question. Ultimately, all decisions regarding allocation of resources to the process of developing the infrastructure of fixed capital assets to serve a regions population depends upon the number of people to be served. The purpose of this article is to present employment multipliers calculated by regression analysis and to describe their usage for planning in nonmetropolitan counties of the Ozarks region. Many technical questions concerning the statistical procedure have been discussed elsewhere. Thus, these questions will be only briefly reviewed herein.

AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING REGIONAL LABOR FORCE MIGRATION, 1960-1970

order to minimize the observing of noneconomically Certain migration patterns observed in the motivated movements and to improve the sampling United States in recent decades have not been validity of the choice of the basic data unit. Percentconsistent with this theory. In particular, levels of age changes in employment were used as basic gross outmigration have shown little, if any, rela- variables for measuring level of change in economic tionship to economic conditions at areas of origin [4, activity between regions because of availability and 5]. This has led to formulation of migration theory reliability. Rates of unemployment were considered which recognizes factors in addition to economic as measures of regional economic activity, but were motives. An important contribution was made by ruled out because they reflect conditions at a point in Everett S. Lee, whose theory explicitly considers the time. Thus, changes in those rates over a 5-year personal characteristics of migrants, as well as risk period may not accurately reflect actual conditions

DISCUSSION: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMISTS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT: RESPONSIBILITIES, OPPORTUNITIES, RISKS, AND PAYOFFS

There is little disagreement with the paper technology that originally set the stage for most by Nelson and Doeksen. These authors have of what is called rural development problems. considered the history of and the justification The need for providing off-farm employment for the Land-Grant System from its nineteenth either in rural areas or the distant city is a century origins to the late twentieth century. familiar one to the rural development social They have distinguished between the traditional scientist. Problems arising from changes in the or primary charge of the System in terms of its demand for public and private services arising responsibility for agricultural development and directly and indirectly from the development its recent secondary responsibility for rural deand application of agricultural technology is velopment. also a familiar one to those of us working in The general lack of support for research and rural development. extension programs in rural development was Even at the risk of over emphasizing the obmeasured by Nelson and Doeksen by comparing vious, it is important to note that public support percentages of land-grant university funds (3 for agricultural technology development or, for percent) and percentages of Cooperative Exthat matter, general development of technology tension personnel (7 percent) working in the without concern for the societal adjustments rural development area. Obviously, by either that may be necessary is not only contradictory, measure rural development is considered a low but actually may be deleterious. priority item by those individuals who establish budget priorities. GENERAL ECONOMIC CHANGES WITH The facts presented by Nelson and Doeksen IMPLICATIONS FOR RURAL regarding support by land-grant programs inDEVELOPMENT volving rural development activities raise the serious question as to why there is this lack of Some major trends have developed in the support? Part of the lack of support could be overall U.S. economy which will substantially attributable to the failure of those of us working impact rural development problems during the in rural development to adequately state our next 10 years. Since Doeksen and Nelson chose, case. This possibility was brought to the attenprobably wisely, to forego any prognostications tion of this discussant while making the dison these matters, it might be useful to consider tinction between agricultural development and some of these trends along with some specurural development for a group of managers of lation about how these changes may relate to the experimental farms of the Missouri Agriextension and research activities in rural decultural Experiment Station. velopment. How we as rural development workIt was noted that agricultural development ers respond to these challenges may well have