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Posts Tagged ‘University of Illinois’
Rural Midwest: Still in a recession or better than most think?
December 4th, 2009
So which of the following statements accurately describes the economy of rural Midwestern communities? “Survey shows rural Midwest still in a recession” or “Rural America more prosperous than expected.”
I caught both of the above titled articles Tuesday while mining Twitter for information on rural communities. Both were released on the same day (Dec. 1), and suggest contradictory opinions about what’s happening in the rural Midwest.
So what gives? Is our economy in the tank or are we doing better than most people assume? Could it be both?
Can we trust the sources?
Let me begin by saying that both articles come from reliable sources:
- The first was released by the Associated Press and Yahoo News and was based on a survey by Creighton University Professor Ernie Goss. It’s a a summary of a monthly report that focuses on economic and employment growth in the nine-state Mid-America Region. It’s a tried and true method of economic analysis that helps people understand what to expect out of the economy in the near future.
- The second originated at the of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (later picked up by LifeScience.com) and highlights researched conducted by Illinois professor, Dr. Andrew Isserman, and several colleagues. It differs from the research at Creighton in that it reaches further back in time for its data (the data comes from 2000), and is not about predicting the future activity.
It’s important to note that the University of Illinois study differs in one other significant way – it attempts to measure community prosperity without relying on the income and growth indicators used in most study on the kind. So, it is possible that the rural Midwest may still struggle with a recession in the upcoming months while remaining more prosperous than most people think. But what does it mean to be more prosperous than most people think?
(Click on the map to enlarge and see how your community is doing accountring to Isserman’s study. Image Source: LiveScience.com)
Measuring Wealth by “outcomes” rather than “income and growth”
Early on in our work in Miner County, Dr. Daryl Hobbs made sure that we understood that the measures of community success often highlighted in the media don’t tell the whole story. For instance, just measuring the number of jobs created doesn’t tell the entire story about how a community is doing. And it definitely doesn’t explain how people feel about the community.
Dr. Isserman at the University of Illinois seems to be well aware of these factors. On the university’s website, he is quoted saying:
“Growth and income are the conventional measures of community success,” said U of I economist and planner Andrew Isserman. “But, in talking with farm groups, elected leaders, and rural development professionals from across the country, I realized how few were happy. Some worried about growing too much, and the others fretted about growing too little.”
Instead of income and growth, the study measured community prosperity by analyzing such factors as:
- unemployment rates
- poverty rates
- high school drop-out rates
- housing conditions
I don’t pretend to be an economist or sociologist (and I didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn last night either), but I do know that this is a very different way of thinking. It’s definitely more in line with what Daryl was telling us, and I like it. But then I don’t measure my personal prosperity by my bank account alone either.
While exited to see this new approach to studying communities, I can’t help but wonder if the study didn’t miss one important criterion by not analyzing health trends. In other words, are people in the community healthy?
I’m sure some in the academia and the economic development worlds will prefer the more traditional use of income and growth to measure community prosperity. And that’s ok. I’m just glad to see others like me are looking at the world a little differently.
Image credit: Andrew Isserman, Edward Feser, Drake Warren, University of Illinois, via LiveScience.com
Tags: Creighton University, University of Illinois
Posted in Community Development, Community Engagement, In the News, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (1)