ENHANCING RURAL ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES, COMMUNITY RESILIENCE, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1022673
• Multistate No.: NE-1749
• Project Start Date: Apr 15, 2020
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2022
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIV
(N/A)
MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS 39762

Performing Department
Agricultural Economics

Non Technical Summary
Rural areas have been lagging behind even though the U.S. is one of the countries having a strong economy. Urban-rural inequality and the regional disparities relate to a variety of socio-economic issues, including income and wealth inequality, deficiency of physical and social capital, and rural economic development. Researchers have been trying to address the issues that rural areas confront, to suggest solutions, and to measure the impact of policies. As a regional economist and a member of this area, I will contribute to the evolving research and collaborate with researchers and professionals in other fields such as demography, environment, health, or energy. Interdisciplinary work is essential for solving the economic and social problems of rural areas are necessary. To achieve my goals, I will improve in analyzing tools for rural areas and do in-depth research on rural economic issues.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

25%

Applied

50%

Developmental

25%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
606	6050	3010	40%
606	6099	3010	30%
606	6110	3010	30%

Knowledge Area
606 - International Trade and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6110 - Economy of the United States and sectors thereof; 6099 - People and communities, general/other; 6050 - Communities, areas, and regions;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;

Keywords

regional economics

community economic development

economic resiliency

extreme events, disaster, economic recession, global pandemic

deficiency of capital

Goals / Objectives
Enhancing rural economic opportunities and entrepreneurship. This is an exceptionally broad, multi-faceted objective which encompasses both the need for advancing the theoretical structure of community economic development and the need for empirical, focused, policy relevant research. Some of the areas which NE1049 researchers have pursued and will expand in the new project are discussed in the comments section. a. The Theory of “Community capitals” (Flora and Flora 1993, 2008). These seven community capitals include built, financial, political, social, human, cultural and natural capitals (Flora and Gillespie 2009). NE1049 researchers have done substantial research on social capital over the past five years (e.g. Goetz and Rupasinga, 2006; Halstead and Deller, 2015). Research in the capitals overlaps with many sub-topics in both this and the second proposal objective, and helps in the pursuit of a broad paradigm for economic development.
b. Issues of wealth/income distribution and rural economic development. Country-level studies have largely found that income inequality and economic growth are inversely related (e.g. Person and Tabellini, 1994; Alesina and Rodrik, 1994; Banerjee and Duflo, 2000). Income and wealth distribution is also an issue in rural areas. Bishaw and Posey (2016) noted that rural Americans have lower median household incomes than urban households, but rural areas have lower poverty rates than their urban counterparts.
c. Non-agricultural development opportunities. A particular area of research for NE1049 has been the economics of local agriculture. However, many rural communities have tried to expand into tourism and recreation with mixed success; in any case, employment opportunities generated in some of these sectors tend to be relatively low-income. Diversification of local economies (e.g. export base and local agriculture; business attraction and retention) through both expanding the small business sector (Eschker, Gold and Lane, 2017) and fostering retention and expansion of existing businesses (Halstead and Deller, 1997) are key development objectives which clearly affect resiliency in the face of natural and human caused shocks to the system. How entrepreneurs behave socially, exchange information, and procure resources and establish reciprocity, are key areas of research (Markeson and Deller 2015).
d. Infrastructure needs, development, and deficiencies. Infrastructure is a broad concept, including both Economic Overhead Capital (which includes roads, bridges, powerlines, etc.) and Social Overhead Capital (health, education, etc.) (Hansen, 1965). Built infrastructure has been researched by team members since the 1980s (e.g. Johnson et al. 1988). Such investments have the potential to affect virtually all the subtopics in both proposed objectives. Specific topics under scrutiny by NE1049 researchers include impacts of broad band internet availability/deficiency on economic development and availability and affordability of child care as a deterrent to availability of affordable labor, and its effects on rural quality of life.
e. Chronic and progressive labor availability problems, related to the issues raised in the third REE goal listed above. If labor becomes more expensive, more automation may result (Devaraj et al. 2017). This can cause economic distortion, and affect labor participation rates, economic goal setting, and other key features at the community level
f. The impact of entrepreneurship on rural areas. There is evidence from previous research that entrepreneurs can contribute to growth in rural areas (e.g. Sepehns et al. 2013; Rupasingha and Goetz, 2013) and understanding what types of policies can contribute to this growth will be critical to deal with the restructuring of rural areas.
2. Evaluating Factors and Policies Affecting the Resiliency of Rural Communities. Many of the natural and human induced “shocks” which impact rural communities are external i.e. communities have little or no control over whether the shock occurs. Examples include major storms (Hurricane Harvey, Superstorm Sandy), restructuring of the tax code or health care system, or State and Federal changes in energy, land, and water use policy. However, there are proactive and reactive mechanisms communities can adopt to minimize negative effects and enhance positive effects of these shocks, and to mitigate effects which do happen. The degree to which a community can bounce back from these changes is a measure of resiliency. Proposed and ongoing research areas under this objective are discussed in the comments section. 1. objective are:

a. Impacts of federal infrastructure investment plans. Funding mechanisms for proposed infrastructure upgrades and expansion are not yet determined and may be quite different from historical funding efforts and effects on tax bases (Deller, Amiel, Stallmann, and Maher, 2013a; Janeski and Whitacre, 2014).
b. Changes in health care availability due to changes in the Affordable Care Act and possible new health care legislation. Many rural counties currently have few or no health care providers, and often suffer from substance abuse issues (Henning-Smith and Kozhimannil, 2016; Skidmore et al. 2014). The disproportionate representation of veterans in rural areas presents both problems and opportunities; veterans may require health care and counseling services difficult to find in rural areas.
c. Why are some areas lagging in recovering from the recession (Stephens, H., Partridge, and Faggian, 2013; Stephens and Partridge, 2011)? What did we learn from the recession? What policies aided resilience and recovery (Deller and Watson, 2016)? There is movement away from extractive industries to retirement/tourism based economies in rural areas, a trend partially offset with opposite effects in, for example, fracking areas; how will this effect community resilience in the face of future shocks? What contexts increase the likelihood a rural community will benefit from retirement-, tourism-, or recreation-based economies as they consider moving away from extractive industries (Hill et al. 2014; Lim, 2016)?
d. The impact of changes in federal policies affect land and water use in rural areas (Chen and Weber, 2012). For example, transfer of ownership of federal lands from federal to state government has been proposed, which might affect income, employment, and taxation at the local/state level. Other issues include changes in public land policy and forest resource management.
e. Understanding the Impacts of changes in the retirement system. For example, the current generation of retirees is the first to experience a shift from traditional pension plans to personal retirement accounts, with implications for intergenerational wealth transfer.
f. Understanding the impact of policies regarding climate change and efforts to support alternative forms of energy on rural areas. What impacts does the renewable energy sector have on rural jobs, income, and household and community well-being? Are some locations better equipped with transport infrastructure, land and forest resources, and human and social capital to support the expansion of this emerging sector? What is the effect of clean energy development on rural counties? Increased focus on sources of renewable energy has raised questions of aesthetic damages, issues of regional vs. local energy, and storage capacity for solar generation. How can rural areas participate?
g. Understanding the impact of policies geared at reinvigorating or encouraging fossil fuels on rural areas. How do rural residents value this development which brings jobs but also can damage natural resources and affect long-term amenity-led growth?
h. Considering the interplay between traditional sources of energy and renewables. How do higher oil prices factor in? How do the interaction between weather and output in solar power link into/with “traditional” energy suppliers? For example, much of the coal fired power of eastern Montana which went to Seattle has been supplanted by other sources. What are the local/regional effects of renewable energy pipelines, powerlines, and other energy infrastructure requirements (Coon et al. 2015; Fortenbery, Deller, and Amiel, 2013)?

Project Methods
A major goal of the researchisto address the issues that rural economy and to measure the impact of policy on rural areas. Therefore, this proposal will consider various research methods based on rigorous economic theories and advanced empirical models, including microeconomic analysis. In addition, an advanced spatial analysis will be utilized in research because the object of the study includes geographical units, for instance, state, county, city, town, census tract, or census block. Lastly, the big data analysis based on the statistics is also one of the vehicles of research.

Progress 04/15/20 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The project's efforts have been delivered to various groups that include academic professionals, general audiencesinterested in Mississippi state or local economic development issues, and students from educational institutes in Mississippi State, the U.S., and abroad. First, the efforts to deliver research findings were targeted to professionals in regional economics,community economic development, applied economics, or related fields by presenting in academic conferences and publishinga peer-reviewed journal article and a book chapter. Second, I tried to provide useful/practical information to the audiencefrom Mississippi state and local communities by presenting in a local conference called "Advancing Mississippi" organized byUniversity Research Center (URC), a division of Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). Lastly, the efforts includedcourse instructionand development for Mississippi State University students and guest lectures for students from out-of-Mississippi State. These activities are expected to draw attention and develop collaboration integrating variousperspectives into the regional economic development at current and for the future. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The heirs' property project is providing a student training opportunity. The student hired from the funded grants will be workingmaster thesis. The student is currently learning how to collect data, manage them, implement literature review, analyzemodels, and interpret the results. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To provide research findings and related information to communities of interest, I participated in related professional meetingsand conferences, including conferences targeting local communities, extension, or education, such as Advancing Mississippiconference and Bays and Bayous Symposium. Also, I plan to publish a series of extension papers and research papers forthe funded project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?My most efforts will be on the on-going studies in the bCHP system in rural communities, heirs' property and racial wealthgap, and the impact of the extreme shocks and community's economic resilience. The research findings will be disseminatedthrough peer-reviewed journals, extension reports, advisory board meetings, conferences, or any possible types of outlets.Simultaneously, I will work on the grant proposal on the fiber products industry and rural development. To develop and extendmy professional network, I will actively participate in or organize sessions and conferences related to the project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1) Research area (1)-d: I have got a funded grant from USDA-NIFA AFRI as a co-PI, entitled "Resilient Biomass-Combined Heatand Power Systems for Rural Communities." This project has been conducted by a multidisciplinary team that is comprised ofresearchers and extension experts from engineering, agricultural engineering, and agricultural economics at Mississippi StateUniversity. This is an on-going project, and my current task is to define the rural areas and measure the rurality at thecounty/census-tracts level in Mississippi. 2) Research area (1)-b: I have got another funded grant from USDA-NIFA AFRI as a co-PI, entitled "The Racial Wealth Gap,Persistent Poverty and Heirs' Property: Analysis, Connections, and Solutions." This project has been conducted by amultidisciplinary team of researchers, extension experts, and NGO leaders from southern states based institutes. My majortask is to do economic/statistical analyses to determine the relationship among (persistent) poverty, racial wealth gap, heirs'property, and financial literacy in southern states. This project will hire one graduate student who will write their master thesisbased on the project results. The master student will present primary findings in the coming meeting of Southern AgriculturalEconomics Associations in February 2021. 3) Research area (1)-c: A grant proposal dealing with fiber-based products industry clusters for rural community developmentworks in progress for submission in 2021. The pre-study results were presented at the Advancing Mississippi conference. 4) Research area (2)-c: There are two related studies with current pandemic shock and the natural disaster. First, collaborators(Lim and Colleta) and I are currently working on the regional economic impact of COVID-19 and the strategy to build aneconomically resilient community. Primary research findings were presented online at the Regional Science Conference and aguest seminar at Seoul National University (South Korea). Further findings will be presented for the coming Western RegionalScience meeting in March 2021. Second, co-author (Yun) and I submitted the paper about the measurement issues of naturaldisaster impact with Hurricane Katrina. The findings were also presented at the Bays and Bayous Symposium focusing oncoastal research. 5) Research area (2)-e: My coauthor (Waldorf) and I worked on retirees' migration choice in the U.S. for an invited book chapter.The research was presented at the Regional Science conference. This work is on the publication process.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, A. and B.S. Waldorf, U.S. Immigration Policy and Brain Waste, Annals of Regional Science, Advanced online publication, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-020-01017-y.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kim, A. and B.S. Waldorf, Retirement, Relocation, and Residential Choices, In Labor Market, Migration, and Mobility, edited by W. Cochrane, M.P. Cameron, and O. Alimi, New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives, Springer. (forthcoming, 2021)
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yun, S.D. and A. Kim, Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Myth or Mismeasure? (R&R in Applied Economic Letters)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, A., Economic Impact of Covid-19 Outbreak: Does Regional Economic Structure Matter in Mississippi?, 5th Annual Advancing Mississippi Conference (Sept. 25, 2020, online)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yun, S.D. and A. Kim, Economic Impacts of Natural Disasters: A Myth or Mis-measurement?, 2020 Bays and Bayous Symposium (Dec. 2, 2020, online)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Lee, J., A. Kim, M. Ryburn, and C. Freeman, Resilience and Spatial Patterns of Mississippi Cotton Product Manufacturing Industry, 5th Annual Advancing Mississippi Conference (Sept. 25, 2020, online)
• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, A., Guest Lecture for Spatial Economic Models, Introduction of Spatial Econometrics, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University, (June 1 and 5, 2020, online)
• Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, A., J. Lim, and A. Colleta, Invited Seminar, Winners and losers from COVID-19 Outbreak in the U.S.: How Regional Economic Structure Matters?, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University, (Nov. 12, 2020, online)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, A. and B.S. Waldorf, Leaving the Laborforce, Living Longer, and Locational Choice, 67th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (Nov 10, 2020, online)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, E. and A. Kim, Does Government Intervention Work in Seoul Housing Market? Application of integrated CGE Model with Regional Housing Economies, 67th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (Nov 13, 2020, online)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kim, A., J. Lim, and A. Colleta, Winners and losers from COVID-19 Outbreak in the U.S.: How Regional Economic Structure Matters?, 67th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International (Nov 13, 2020, Online)