Introduction to the Special Issue on Rural Economic Development: New Research Insights and how the COVID-19 Pandemic may Impact Future Investment Strategies.

Abstract

I’ve always had a natural curiosity about small towns and how rural communities function. As a child, my family and I often visited my maternal grandparents’ house in a small town located in a nonmetro county in Southwestern Ohio. As my maternal grandparents and parents dragged me along to seemingly every antique shop on or in the vicinity of the National Road corridor between Southwest Ohio and East Central Indiana, I frequently wondered how these small towns survived. I’m certain others who visit these towns and rural areas share my concern. I figured that the income derived from farming combined with the amount of business conducted by the local Main Street businesses must be enough to support these small towns and the surrounding rural population. Like me, you may have asked the same questions about small towns and rural communities, but with a greater awareness as to the challenges rural geographies face. Every now and then, I’m fortunate to be invited to speak about the economy at one of northern Michigan’s popular tourist towns or resorts. Trips to these towns and resorts require several hours of driving through the state’s vast tracts of rural land. During the trip, I’ll drive by beautiful parks, thriving diners, and the well-maintained lawns in front of vintage-style homes that show the pride residents have in the town in which they live. Unfortunately, I would also see abandoned warehouses, idled manufacturing facilities, foreclosed homes, blighted apartment buildings, and dilapidated tourist attractions from days gone by. When these conditions are present in a major city, for instance Detroit, they draw regional and national attention that catalyzes coordinated campaigns involving multiple philanthropists, foundations, and government officials to revitalize the city and restore the city’s attractiveness. But rural geographies don’t garner national attention or necessarily have access to a deep base of philanthropies, nonprofit organizations, or even government support they can draw upon to try and execute economic development strategies that would jumpstart economic activity in their respective communities. While researchers have produced an incredible amount of literature on how to promote economic development in rural areas, rural stakeholders and community leaders may not be aware of the body of research that is available or bestpromising practices that have been used to improve economic conditions in other rural communities. For example, should a rural community utilize a place-based strategy that looks to improve the quality of life in a location, making it more attractive for people to stay, or a people-based strategy that provides direct assistance to the disaffected population, potentially allowing them to move outside of the challenged area? The desire to assist rural communities in their efforts to increase economic activity and promote development led to a partnership between the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Economic Development Quarterly, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Our work has resulted in a special issue of academic research papers and will be presented at a conference scheduled in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 28–29, 2022. The event will involve dialogues between the papers’ authors and practitioners on how efforts from both groups can assist rural economic development. This conference was scheduled for May 2020 but was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Arguably, the pandemic magnified the challenges rural communities face and clarified the issues that will be addressed at the September 2022 conference.