Michael R. Betz

Country Road Take Me Home

This research fills a void in the regional development literature by assessing how labor force migration affects regional adjustment in peripheral regions and whether it differs from the rest of the country. We do this by comparing patterns for the lagging Appalachian region to the United States as a whole for the 1990s and post-2000 periods. We appraise whether successful job creation helps the original residents seeking employment, or primarily goes to outsiders, rendering place-based development policy ineffective. In a novel addition, we appraise whether local job creation is associated with attracting relatively wealthier net migrants. Because different relative migration elasticities imply different responses for other labor market outcomes, we also assess whether employment growth supports original residents in terms of lifting median household incomes and employment/population rates and reducing unemployment rates and poverty rates. We find that migration post-2000 has become less responsive to employment growth differentials, which allows successful economic development to lift the employment prospects of original resident and produces a stronger response in reducing local poverty rates.

Entrepreneurial and Employment Responses to Economic Conditions across the Rural-Urban Continuum

In this article, we explore how local employment growth in the urban-rural continuum is affected by economic trends in industries that comprise local economies and by growth in nearby metropolitan areas. Our county-level analyses reveal heterogeneous responses. Favorable economic changes due to a fast-growing local industry mix have the largest positive impact on self-employment growth in small metropolitan areas and the smallest positive impact in rural counties. Self-employment in rural counties is fostered by growth in nearby small metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and is hampered by growth in nearby large MSAs. In micropolitan counties that are close to small and medium growing MSAs, local self-employment tends to grow faster, while growth in nearby large MSAs has no effect. In urban counties, growth in a nearby large MSA is not related to local self-employment growth in the lower tiers of the urban hierarchy.

Wage and Employment Growth in America’s Drug Epidemic: Is All Growth Created Equal?

&NA; The rise in drug overdose deaths in the United States since the turn of the millennium has been extraordinary. A popular narrative paints a picture whereby opioid overdoses among white, male, less‐educated, rural workers have been caused by reduced economic opportunities borne by such people. In this article, we causally test the validity of this theory by using Bartik‐type variables to explore the relationship between local economic conditions and county opioid overdose death rates. We add to the literature by exploring how both employment and wage growth in different types of industries are related to opioid overdose deaths for the population as a whole, as well as for rural (vs. urban), male (vs. female) and white (vs. black) populations. We find mixed evidence. Our results confirm that wage and employment growth in industries more likely to employ low‐skill workers are important protective factors for rural, white males. However, we also find evidence that economic improvements in low‐skill industries are just as important in protecting blacks and women against opioid overdoses, and for workers in metro counties. We also find evidence that employment growth in high‐paying industries has led to increases in opioid overdoes rates.

Collaborative Counties: Questioning the Role of Civil Society

Local governments face increased pressure to collaborate with one another to provide services aimed at increasing economic development. While scholars and practitioners share interest in intergovernmental collaboration, past studies have rarely questioned the role of civil society. Based on the social capital literature, a robust local civil society with high rates of volunteerism and civic engagement should facilitate local government cooperation. Using unique primary data from county governments across the United States, the authors question the degree to which local civil society influences collaborative behavior. The authors further contrast civil society’s influence relative to that of private business interests. This study provides modest evidence for the role of civil society. Rather, the findings suggest that collaboration is greatest where business involvement in development is higher and public participation tends toward more “token” policies (i.e., citizen input mechanisms) rather than organized, citizen group involvement in decision making.