Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Academics and policymakers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided the retraining of spatial econometrics. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results were disseminated through Wisconsin Public Radio interviews (approximately ten), newspaper coverage, numerous journal articles, faculty papers, and five specific stories. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This work progressed along four lines: (1) the economics of local foods; (2) the role of entrepreneurship in rural economic growth and development; (3) impact of state restrictions on the fiscal health of state and local governments; (4) rural and community economic growth and development strategies with a focus on social capital. The economics of local foods work has been practically successful. A series of AAE staff papers provided a critical review of the current literature, the role of local foods in rural economic growth, and the impact of local foods on public health. The work found that the state of the current literature cannot support the numerous justifications for the promotions of local foods. Over the past two years the level of scientific rigor has finally started to be elevated. The work also found no or very limited evidence that local foods enhances rural economic growth: the markets are simply too thin to have a noticeable impact on local growth patterns. This is not to say that there are no unique business opportunities for entrepreneurs. This work has resulted in being a co-editor of a special issue of Community Development and a series of shorter policy essays on the magazine Choices. More importantly, the USDA AMS contracted with a number of regional scientists and agricultural economists to develop a series of educational programs aimed at helping communities properly identify the strengths and weakness of local foods markets at the community and regional levels. The role of entrepreneurship in rural economic growth and development yielded several academic articles in highly ranked journals and a series of Wisconsin focused policy studies. This latter work has received significant media attention throughout Wisconsin and has helped the state refocus some of its economic growth and development resources into fostering entrepreneurship in Wisconsin. This work has also highlighted the role of women entrepreneurs and the growth of women farmers, the latter of which overlaps significantly with local foods. The impact of state restrictions, often referred to as tax and expenditure limitations, on state and local governments has yield the most academic output. Over the life of this line of work, a total of 12 journal articles have been published. We have found that these types of restrictions seldom have the anticipated outcome and indeed results in several negative unintended consequences such as underinvestment in infrastructure, reduced credit rates, higher interest costs on debt, higher levels of debt and overall weaker fiscal health. The final line of work has focused on notions of social capital and community economic growth and development. This line of work has explored the role of social capital in rural crime rates, entrepreneurship and small business activity, and spillover effects on local foods activity. Generally, higher levels of social capital tend to be associated with better community outcomes. This work resulted in numerous journal articles and a co-edited book.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Fortenbery, Randall, Deller, Steven C. and Amiel, Lindsay. 2013. The Location Decisions of Bio-Diesel Refineries. Land Economics. 89 (1): 118136.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Maher, Craig, Stallmann, Judith I., and Amiel, Lindsay. 2013. The Restrictiveness of State Tax and Expenditure Limitations and State Debt. Public Finance and Management. 13(1):1-25.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Amiel, Lindsay, Stallmann, Judith, and Maher, Craig. 2013. Do Tax and Expenditure Limits Hinder the Condition of Public Infrastructure? The Case of the Nations System of Bridges. Public Works Management and Policy. 18(4):375 393.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Maher, Craig, and Deller, Steven C. 2013. Assessing the Relationship Between Objective and Subjective Measures of Financial Condition Using Government-Wide Statements Public Budgeting and Finance. 33(3):115-136.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Amiel, Lindsay, Deller, Steven C., Stallmann, Judith and Maher, Craig. 2014. Does the Restrictiveness of State and Expenditure Limitations Affect State Revenues and Expenditures. International Journal of Public Administration. 37(4):237-248.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., 2014. Mining and Rural Economic Growth. Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy. 44(1):36-48.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. 2015. Is Regional Science the Embodiment of the Engaged University? Review of Regional Studies. 45(1):1-13.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Maher, Criag, Deller, Steven C., Stallmann, Judith and Park, Sugho. 2016. The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Limits on Municipal Credit Ratings. American Review of Public Administration. 45(5):592-613.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, Deller, Steven C. and Tsvethova, Alexendra. 2016. Regional Business Climate and Interstate Manufacturing Relocation Decisions." Regional Science and Urban Economics. 60:155-168.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. and Watson, Philip. 2016. Did Regional Economic Diversity Influence the Effects of the Great Recession? Economic Inquiry. 54(4):1824-1838.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. and Watson, Philip. 2016. Spatial Variations in the Relationship Between Economic Diversity and Stability. Applied Economic Letters. 23(7):520-525.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. and Conroy, Tessa. 2017. Business Survival Rates Across the Urban-Rural Divide. Community Development. 24(1):67-85.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Maher, Craig, Deller, Steven C., Stallmann, Judith and Park, Sugho. (forthcoming) The Effects of Tax and Expenditure Limits on State Fiscal Reserves. Public Policy and Administration (advanced on-line access August 2016).
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. (2014). Strategies for Rural Wealth Creation: A Progression of Thinking through Ideas And Concepts. Rural Wealth Creation. Pender, John L., Bruce A. Weber, Thomas G. Johnson, and J. Matthew Fannin. (eds) London and New York: Routledge.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, Deller, Steven C. and Tsvethova, Alexendra. (forthcoming). Interstate Relocation of Manufacturers and Business Climate. Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies. (advanced published on-line October 2016).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Watson, Philip and Deller, Steven C. (forthcoming). Economic Diversity, Unemployment and the Great Recession. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance. (forthcoming).
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Harris Thomas R., Deller, Steven C. and Goetz Stephan J. (2014). Linkages of the Agricultural Sector: Models and Precautions. In: Neal Van Alfen (ed). Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems, Vol. 4, San Diego: Elsevier.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. and Conroy, Tessa. 2016. Survival Rates of Rural Businesses: What the Evidence Tells Us. Choices 31(4).
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Brown, Laura, Canto, Amber 2014. Poverty, Public Health and Local Foods. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison Staff Paper No. 572, February 2014, 38p.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Brown, Laura, Canto, Amber. 2014. Local Foods and Community Health: An Exploratory Analysis. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison Staff Paper No. 571, February 2014, 37p.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Brown, Laura, Haines, Anna and Fortenbery, Randy. 2014. Local Foods and Rural Economic Growth. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison Staff Paper No. 570, February 2014, 30p
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, and Deller, Steven C. 2014. Wisconsin Establishment Migration: 2000-2011. Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Study Series No. 1. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, and Deller, Steven C. 2014. Regional Growth and Development Strategies: Business Relocation. Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Policy Brief Series No. 1. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. 2015. A Trade Area Analysis of Wisconsin Retail Markets: Update for 2014. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics Miscellaneous Papers. University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, Kures, Matt and Deller, Steven C. 2016. Wisconsins Shifting Labor Resources: A Review of Educational Attainment. Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Study Series No.4. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, Kures, Matt and Deller, Steven C. 2016. Labor Market Trends in Wisconsin: Potential Worker Shortage and Changing Demand Skills Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Policy Brief Series No.4. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. 2016. A Trade Area Analysis of Wisconsin Retail Markets: Update for 2015. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics Miscellaneous Papers.University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. and Conroy, Tessa. 2017. Innovation and Economic Performance: R&D within Wisconsin. Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Study Series No.5. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. and Conroy, Tessa. 2017. Innovation and Economic Performance: Policy Options for Wisconsin. Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Policy Brief No.5. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:This work has focused economic growth and development at the local level with a bias toward the growth of smaller more rural communities withint the US. Work has focused on: (1) agriculture, particularly small scale and local food systems, and rural economic growth and development, (2) the role of entreprenuership and microenterprises on rural economic growth and development, and (3) notions of social capital and community economic development. The social capital work has been particularly fruitful with a new edited book and one refered journal article. The agricultural focused work was aimed primarily at informing UW-Extension personal around the role of small scale agriculture and rural growth and development. This latter work resulted in being invited by USDA to be part of a national work team to write a manual on how to assess local food markets with a focus on economic impact. An interesting angle that the work has fostered is food access, food desert, rural poverty and public health. Finally, work on the role of small businesses and entreprenuership has fostered significant media attention across Wisconsin. This work has greatly influenced policy debates at the state and local level across Wisconsin. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?I was asked to participate in a USDA national team to develop an educational how-to manual for community residents, farmers, community development practitioners, including Extension educators on assessing the markets for local foods and the potential economic impacts of individual local foods projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Numerous press releases with targeted interactions with specific media outlets. Much of this work has been featured on various segments of Wisconsin Public Radio and newspapers across the state. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, the focus will be on establishing a new firm level database to explore the formation patterns of new business start-ups and the resiliency of these new start-up firms relative to rural community characteristics
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Small scale agriculture, particularly local food activity, does not have the impact on local economic growth patterns as often advised in the literature. While there are significant opportunities for individual farmers and producers, the market is too thin for significant impact on the local community. Small business development via entreprenuership is vital to rural economic vitality. Too often policies focus on larger older businesses when much of the growth in the post Great Recession period is driven by new business startups. For most smaller and rural communities these are often "mundane" businesses that could be considered microenterprises (less than five employees).
Publications
- Type:
Books
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Halstead, John and Deller, Steven C. (eds). 2015. Social Capital at the Community Level: An Applied Interdisciplinary Perspective. London :Routledge Publishing.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Markeson, Bjorn, and Deller, Steven C. (2015). "Social Capital, Communities, and the Firm." In Halstead, John and Deller, Steven C. (eds). Social Capital at the Community Level: An Applied Interdisciplinary Perspective. London :Routledge Publishing.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Halstead, John M., and Steven C. Deller. (2015). "Social Capital and Community Development." In Halstead, John and Deller, Steven C. (eds). Social Capital at the Community Level: An Applied Interdisciplinary Perspective. London :Routledge Publishing.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Halstead, John M., and Steven C. Deller. (2015). "What Do We Know? And Where Do We Go From Here?" In Halstead, John and Deller, Steven C. (eds). Social Capital at the Community Level: An Applied Interdisciplinary Perspective. London :Routledge Publishing.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. 2015. Is Regional Science the Embodiment of the Engaged University? Review of Regional Studies. 45(1):1-13.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Keene, Ashleigh and Deller, Steven C. 2015. Evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Among US Counties and the Impact of Social Capital. International Review of Regional Science. 38(4): 358-387.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Canto, Amber and Brown, Laura. 2015. Rural Poverty, Health and Food Access. Regional Science Policy and Practice. 7(2):61-74.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Winkler, Richelle, Deller, Steven C. and Marcouiller, David W. 2015. Recreational Housing and Community Development: A Triple Bottom Line Approach. Growth and Change. 46(3):481-500.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, and Deller, Steven C. (2015). "Women Business Leaders Across Wisconsin 1990-2011." Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Study Series No. 2. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, and Deller, Steven C. (2015). Where are Wisconsins Business Leaders? Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Policy Brief Series No. 2. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, and Deller, Steven C. (2015). Employment Growth in Wisconsin: Is it Younger or Older Businesses, Smaller or Larger? Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Study Series No. 3. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Conroy, Tessa, and Deller, Steven C. (2015). Where do the Jobs Come From? Strategies for Job Creation Patterns of Economic Growth and Development Policy Brief Series No. 3. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin Madison/Extension.
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The target audiences are researchers and extension specialists who work in community economic development, elected officials at the national, state and local levels, and concerned citizens. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Professional development was provided by numerous interactions with the UW-Extension Local Foods team to help them better understand the interaction between local foods and the local economy. The project provided the necessary resources to undertake the applied research which was (is) necessary in community level work in local foods. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results were disseminated in academic journals, popular press coverage and through the UW-Extension Local Foods team. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In the next reporting period, we will subject more of the work to the test of peer review via the publishing in academic journals.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Three main accomplishments: (1) informed the UW-Extension Local Foods team about the relationship between local foods and community economic development, (2) informed federal policy makers and staff about the interplay between local foods, public health and poverty, (3) part of a USDA supported multi-university effort to develop a "how to" manual for communities, farmers and local food hub managers on how to assess local market potential and economic impacts. Local foods is very difficult to define and measure and as a result to model empirically. Much of the work has focused on this very basic issue. The first accomplishment centered on helping members of the UW-Extension local foods team to recast their work within a community economic development setting. Members of this team were promoting local foods as a community economic growth and development strategy when indeed the research could not support such claims. Members of the team tempered their message based on the results of this work. The second accomplishment came through participation in a national conference on rural poverty hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank. The output from this conference, including the publication in Choices, helped federal policy makers and staff think about how local foods can complement rural poverty and health related issues. The third accomplishment, the USDA supported multi-university effort, will help USDA staff work with communities, farmers and local food hub managers think through how local foods interacts with the local economy. USDA was concerned that many of its grant applicants did not understand that interaction and resources were required to help.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Steven C. Deller and Maureen Stickel 2014 "Small Food Processing in the Context of Local Foods." Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics Staff Paper No. 557. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Maureen Stickel and Steven Deller "Community Level Impacts of Local Food Movements in the US, Canada & Western Europe" submitted to the Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Steven Deller, Amber Canto and Laura Brown "Rural poverty, health and food access" forthcoming in Regional Science Policy & Practice.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Laura Brown, Amber Canto and Steven Deller "Rural Poverty, Food Access, and Public Health Outcomes" Choices, 2nd Quarter, 2014.
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Progress 09/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: This work is focused on the role of local foods and community well-being. The audience is academic, Extension educators and the general public. The work has been presented at a number of academic meetings, Extension in-service trainings within Wisconsin, and three general public meetings. Changes/Problems: We still have a challenge in defining local foods both conceptually and empirically. The term "local foods" is not well defined or understood: it is much like art, you know it when you see it. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? See above comment on Extension related presentations on local foods and economic growth and the shift in programming away from building local foods systems to helping local foods farmers be more profitable. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? See above comment on Extension programming. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The work needs to be submitted to peer journal review, aka published in the academic journals. In addition, when the 2012 Census of Agriculture becomes available a new range of research comes open.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Progress along three lines. First, the definition of local foods is unclear within the literature and significant attention was paid to developing a ranges of metrics characterizing local foods. Second, there is little evidence that local foods is a viable rural economic development strategy. The markets are not sufficiently "thick" to have a measureable impact on the larger economy and the revenues generated at the farm level is insufficient to impact the larger economy. Local foods may be a viable business strategy for some farmers but the markets are not sufficient to impact the larger economy. Third, there is a strong tie between public health and local foods activity, but the direction of causation is not clear: do healther people have higher demand for local foods or does access to local foods promote health? It is unclear. As part of the economic growth work, within Wisconsin, educational outreach efforts have shifted from building local food systems to focusing on the economics of the local foods farm enterprise.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Deller, Steven C. 2013. Local Foods, Public Health and Rural Poverty. Conference on Rural Poverty, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA. November.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Anna Haines, Laura Brown and Randy Fortenbery. 2013."Local Foods and Rural Economic Growth" North American Regional Science Association Annual Conference, November, 2013, Atlanta, GA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Deller, Steven C., Laura Brown and Amber Canto. 2013. "Local Foods and Public Health: An Exploratory Analysis." North American Regional Science Association Annual Conference, November, 2013, Atlanta, GA
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