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The health and wealth of US counties: How the small business environment impacts alternative measures of development
Abstract
In this paper, we evaluate the prospects of small business-driven job creation by assessing the link between small business
and population health, an alternative measure of economic development. We combine two literatures from the social capital
perspective of aggregate community well-being to model the effects of small-business concentration on aggregate measures of
population health. We argue that entrepreneurial culture facilitates collective efficacy for a community and provides a problem-solving
capacity for addressing local public health problems. Our analysis demonstrates that communities with a greater concentration
of small businesses, ceteris paribus, have greater levels of population health. Implications for theory and research are discussed.
... To the extent that a strong small business sector contributes to the local economy and strengthens community social fabric, investing in small businesses may confer benefits not just to those who own or are employed by these small businesses, but to an entire community (Tolbert, Lyson, and Irwin 1998). These benefits may extend to health, as suggested by a small number of empirical studies (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2011;Tolbert 2005) and a social determinants of health theoretical perspective, which recognizes economic and community social conditions as fundamental to population health (Marmot and Wilkinson 2005). While theoretically, a strong small business sector could protect health by improving local socioeconomic conditions and reducing unemployment, the scholarly evidence connecting the sector to health has not been investigated and summarized. ...
... The second study examined the association between the concentration of small businesses per 100,000 population and three health outcomes: the age-standardized mortality rate, obesity prevalence, and diabetes prevalence. Using a multilevel design and data from 3,060 counties across the contiguous US, Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken found that the concentration of small businesses was associated with lower rates of obesity, mortality, and diabetes (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2011). The authors hypothesized that the entrepreneurial culture of small business facilitates increased collective efficacy, contributing to local solutions to health challenges. ...
... The authors hypothesized that the entrepreneurial culture of small business facilitates increased collective efficacy, contributing to local solutions to health challenges. The protective effect against obesity prevalence of small business concentration was stronger than were the protective effects of health insurance coverage rates, higher per capita income, or lower income inequality (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2011). Although the authors used a time-lagged study design to rule out potential reverse Job creation small (increase) Weak/ inconclusive Generally, there is a lack of consensus on the degree of job growth associated with small businesses. ...
Federal spending on non-health entitlement programs, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and SNAP, has decreased as a percent of GDP since 2011, putting social safety net and community and economic development funding at risk. As an important component of community development, small business support programs are also at risk under social spending cuts. While theory suggests that a strong small business sector could protect health by improving socioeconomic conditions and reducing unemployment, the public health implications of reduced support for small business has not been explored. We conducted a scoping literature review of studies indexed by Pubmed, Cochrane Review, Google Scholar, and Academic Search Premier. The literature suggests that small businesses may provide social and economic benefits to communities that likely protect health, especially in economically deprived communities. These health impacts should be considered when policy-makers weigh decisions that affect small businesses and funding for community and economic development.
... Previous findings from research informed by the Community Capital frameworkbroadly defined-indicate that communities with a greater proportion of locallyowned and locally-oriented businesses are more civically engaged and have higher levels of economic well-being-less poverty, inequality, crime, chronic unemployment, community health issues-than those communities in which employment is concentrated in a few absentee-owned firms (see Blanchard, Tolbert, & Mencken 2012;Irwin, Tolbert, & Lyson, 1999;Lee & Berthelot, 2010;Lee & Thomas, 2010;Lyson, Torres, & Welsh, 2001;Mencken, Bader, & Polson, 2006;Tolbert et al. 2002;Tolbert, Lyson, & Irwin, 1998;). The local entrepreneur and community leader are central agents of development in their communities. ...
... Their entrepreneurial nature means that they are likely to be effective leaders and facilitators of community integration. The local entrepreneurs become important agents for organizing and managing local civic engagement (Blanchard et al., 2012;Blanchard & Matthews, 2006). In contrast, managers and professionals who are employed locally by absentee-owned firms are more likely to advocate for corporate interests over local interests. ...
... The more rural the county, the stronger the effects. These results are consistent with previous research on county-level measures of well-being in rural America, which show that measures of political and social capital predict lower levels of poverty and income inequality in nonmetropolitan counties (see Blanchard et al., 2012;Tolbert et al. 2002;Tolbert et al., 1998 Mencken & Tolbert Journal of Rural and Community Development, 13, 1(2018) Mencken & Tolbert Journal of Rural and Community Development, 13, 1(2018) 47-66 60 The measure for human capital-percent of adults 25+ with at least a high school education-has a positive effect on 1999 median family and 2000 personal income. However, only human capital has the expected effect on 1999 Gini coefficient of income inequality and county 1999 poverty rate. ...
Utilizing the Community Capitals framework we examine the impact of Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) reported small business lending on the economic well-being of Texas counties in 1999–2000. We combine data from multiple data sources, including the County Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) annual county Aggregate and Disclosure data—collected under directive of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act—and use GeoDa to model the impact of small business lending in each Texas county from 1996–1999 on the 1999 county poverty rate, median family income, Gini income inequality coefficient, 2000 per capita income and 2000 nonfarm earnings per worker. Controlling for other dimensions of the Community Capitals Framework, the results show positive effects of small business lending on two income measures—per worker nonfarm earnings, and per capita income. Furthermore, we find the small business lending from 1996–1999 reduced poverty and income inequality in the most rural Texas counties. Implications for theory, policy, and research are discussed.
... The focus is on community social structures (small business, associations, organizations) that encourage civic engagement. It is well established that locally-oriented businesses such as small manufacturing establishments and retail outlets are associated with a number of beneficial local outcomes and promote community resilience (e.g., Tolbert et al. 2002;Blanchard et al. 2012). The benefits include better socioeconomic conditions (e.g., higher income levels, less poverty, less income inequality, lower unemployment), lower crime and delinquency levels, and even better public health outcomes (Tolbert 2005;Blanchard and Matthews 2006). ...
... We argue that the research on civic community, with its focus on the impact of local structures such as small businesses, third places, and associations (Tolbert et al. 1998(Tolbert et al. , 2002Blanchard et al. 2012), needs better integration with the broader theoretical macro-level systemic model of community structure and organization. Accordingly, systems of local kinship and friendship networks intersect with formal and informal associational ties to create a greater sense of community identity and integrate individuals into active roles in community life (Kasarda and Janowitz 1974;Sampson 1988;Sampson and Groves 1989). ...
... One of the methodological strengths of this line of work is that organizations lend themselves to measurement at the community (usually county) level. This has permitted researchers to employ quantitative spatial econometric approaches to the analysis of civic community (Tolbert et al. 1998;Blanchard et al. 2012). Yet, longitudinal research designs that might test for change in the level of civic community have been scarce (Tolbert 2005). ...
The civic community perspective focuses on important community organizations such as locally oriented business establishments, civic organizations, associations, churches, and the body politic. These critical institutions are thought to benefit communities through an enhanced quality of life, more civic engagement by the citizenry, and a strong capacity for local problem solving. This work has been largely cross-sectional and aspatial. The line of work has had limited utility in addressing themes like Putnam?s Bowling Alone hypothesis that social capital is in decline. In the present work, we address both temporal and spatial trends in the U.S. since 1980. We find considerable variation across time and space that cast doubt on notions of a sweeping secular decline in American social capital.
... Unlike the U.S., European nations (Italy, France and Belgium in particular) have experienced a slower growth of hypermarkets, in part due to size-based entry regulation [8][9][10][11]. Studies by Rybczynski and Curtis [12] and Blanchard et al. [13] indicate a strong positive association between the prevalence of small business in a community and individual or community health. As such, we believe that market structure, as measured by the portion of small to total businesses in a nation, may have a role in explaining, at least in part, the observed cross-country differences in health. ...
... For example, larger firm size brings economies of scale. As such, large companies can offer better medical and dental benefits packages [13] and thus may have a positive impact on health. Major retail outlets are also associated with lower prices on health improving goods [22]. ...
... Major retail outlets are also associated with lower prices on health improving goods [22]. On the other hand, big business is thought to exacerbate several known correlates of poor health such as hierarchical work environments, lack of control over work, isolation, urban sprawl, and loss of social capital (see [12,13,18,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] for a detailed discus-sion of these pathways). Indeed, Banks et al. [1] propose that the social circumstances in which people live and work may be key factors in the health differences across the UK and US, although they are unable to control for more than basic SES in their study. ...
There is a well documented health disparity between several European countries and the United States. This health gap remains even after controlling for socioeconomic status and risk factors. At the same time, we note that the U.S. market structure is characterized by significantly more large corporations and "super-sized" retail outlets than Europe. Because big business is hierarchical in nature and has been reported to engender urban sprawl, inferior work environments, and loss of social capital, all identified as correlates of poor health, we suggest that differences in market structure may help account for some of the unexplained differences in health across Europe and North America. Using national level data, this study explores the relationship between market structure and health. We investigate whether individuals who live in countries with proportionately more small business are healthier than those who do not. We use two measures of national health: life expectancy at birth, and age-standardized estimates of diabetes rates. Results from ordinary least squares regressions suggest that, there is a large and statistically significant association between market structure (the ratio of small to total businesses) and health, even after controlling income, public percent of health expenditure, and obesity rates. This association is robust to additional controls such as insufficient physical activity, smoking, alcohol disease, and air pollution.
... In our ongoing work we have established that locally oriented businesses, such as small manufacturing establishments and retail outlets, are associated with a number of beneficial local outcomes and promote rural community resilience (Blanchard and Matthews 2006;Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2012;Lyson and Tolbert 2004;Mencken, Bader, and Polson 2006;Tolbert et al. 2002;Tolbert, Lyson, and Irwin 1998). At the core of our research on local rural community development is the concept of "civic capitalism," or the theory that a thriving locally oriented business class composed of local entrepreneurs and small businesses creates an environment most conducive to community development. ...
... The noneconomic institutions that promote civic community include civically engaged places of worship, national volunteer associations, and third places. Research has empirically supported the positive socioeconomic benefits of civic capitalism (see Blanchard and Matthews 2006;Blanchard et al. 2012;Irwin et al. 2004;Irwin, Tolbert, and Lyson 1999;Lee 2008;Tolbert 2005;Tolbert et al. 1998). This article focuses on the implications of financial industry restructuring for locally oriented capitalism. ...
... Business owners have to form a new history with the new ownership. A strong locally oriented small business sector is an important component of healthy rural communities (Blanchard and Matthews 2006;Blanchard et al. 2012;Lyson and Tolbert 2004;Mencken et al. 2006;Tolbert et al. 1998Tolbert et al. , 2002. It is not just the emergence of big-box retail trade that has placed many small rural businesses at risk but also the macrostructural changes that have altered the relationships between local people and the institutions that provide them credit. ...
Restructuring in the financial services industry has altered the relationship between small business owners and capital. In the past small businesses have relied on relational, or soft data, lending from locally owned banks for capital. The proliferation of absentee-owned local branch networks brought standardized practices, thus eliminating the autonomy of local loan officers to utilize soft data in loan decisions. In this article we examine the changes in the percentage of traditional financial services that are locally owned in three county types: metropolitan, micropolitan, and noncore. We utilize the Longitudinal Business Database at the U.S. Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies. We examine changes in local ownership of traditional financial services between 1976 and 2007. We find that the rate of decline of local ownership has been greatest in the noncore (most rural) counties. We also explore to what extent these patterns are related to the emergence of alternative financial services during the same period. We find that such alternative services are growing in all three county types, but at rates not significantly different than the population growth for these county types. We supplement our analysis with data from qualitative interviews with small business owners throughout rural Texas. We conclude with a discussion of implications and plans for future research.
... Recent research on the role of the cultural environment in diabetes prevalence by Blanchard et al. [2] suggests that a community's level of entrepreneurial culture is a key explanatory factor for variation in diabetes prevalence.An important aspect of the entrepreneurial culture is the capacity for a community to solve local problems without external assistance. The presence of an entrepreneurial culture implies that a community possesses a higher level of collective efficacy, or the capacity and willingness of community members to take responsibility for solving local problems [3][4][5]. ...
... Blanchard et al. [2] propose three pathways through which collective efficacy may influence health outcomes. First, communities with a higher level of collective efficacy have a greater capacity to procure health infrastructure, such as hospitals and clinics, and to recruit health professionals. ...
... A key shortcoming of findings regarding entrepreneurial culture by Blanchard et al. [2] is that the authors do not account for findings by Barker et al. [11] who identify and describe a contiguous "diabetes belt" among U.S. counties. The authors identify a cluster of counties with a high prevalence of diabetes diagnosis in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. ...
Objective. To examine whether the presence of an entrepreneurial culture in a community is associated with county-level diabetes prevalence in the U.S. after accounting for high level of spatial clustering of prevalence rates observed in prior research. Methods. We perform a county-level spatial regression analysis of CDC diabetes prevalence rates. We measure entrepreneurial culture as the number of businesses with 0 to 4 employees per 1,000 residents. Results. The level of entrepreneurial culture in a community is associated with lower rates of diabetes. Our findings show that the key measure of entrepreneurial culture has expected effects on county diabetes rates. However, we show that failure to control for spatial error dependence in previous research leads to an overestimation of the effects of entrepreneurial culture on diabetes prevalence. Conclusion. Policies aimed at curbing diabetes prevalence should utilize the business community as a key agent of social change. Researchers should also utilize spatial regression techniques when analyzing county-level diabetes prevalence rates, because of high level of spatial clustering of rates.
... Small businesses make large contributions across economy and society, 2 help redistribute wealth through paid employment and reduce labour migration from regions to metropolitan areas. 3 Small businesspeople tend to be self-efficacious and are motivated to help solve local problems because community improvement enhances 'quality of life and the profitability of their business'. 3,p. ...
... They placed high value on close relationships and community belonging, and some expressed profound satisfaction from contributing to communities through their business activities. 3 Such integration was associated with benefits of close relationships and belonging, but also obligations to contribute, difficulty switching to a more relaxed 'off', and added pressure not to be seen to fail. Also related to operating in rural communities was a perception of high visibility. ...
Objective:
To explore the influences of rurality on small business owner mental well-being and approaches to managing stress and mental well-being.
Design:
Semistructured interviews with small businesspeople. Concepts of salutogenesis and pathogenesis were used to interpret rurality influences on business and mental well-being. A stress-coping framework was used to categorise approaches to managing mental well-being.
Setting:
Central Western New South Wales.
Participants:
Eleven female and male rural small businesspeople across sectors, including farming, allied health, beauty care and retail businesses.
Main outcome measures:
Interviewee descriptions of experiences of small business and rurality and approaches to managing mental well-being.
Findings:
Rurality influenced mental well-being in four main ways: Business integration with community and owner identity; Visibility and being known; Different financial pressures; and Options for specialised support and casual relief. Rurality can be salutogenic and pathogenic, depending on circumstances, and pressures arising from rurality may differ for 'locals' and recent arrivals. High visibility in a small community can lead to a satisfying sense of belonging and connection. It can also create unwanted feelings of obligation and being watched. Most commonly the interviewees used emotional supports or distraction to adapt to stressors. This may be due to limited options to change or disengage from stressors in rural contexts.
Conclusion:
Rurality brings its own benefits and challenges to small businesspeople's mental well-being. Given the immense contributions of small business to rural society and economies, investments in understanding and supporting the mental well-being of rural small businesspeople should be a high priority for communities and all levels of government.
... According to Tolbert (2005), Locally oriented business establishments are positively associated with small manufacturing establishments, associations, public gathering places, social capital, and voter turnout. Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken (2012) have substantiated that an inclusive, entrepreneurial culture facilitates collective efficacy for public health. ...
... Christensen, Fronstin, Polzer, and Werntz (2002) determined that employers typically focus on their health benefit programs and not on the impact of these benefit programs on the larger community or business sector. However, Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken (2012) identified that communities with a robust entrepreneurial culture and concentration of small businesses are positively correlated with population health outcomes. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3983674 ...
... Among the targets that should be set for the disadvantaged areas are to become able to attract investments and to increase employment (Bachtler and Yuill, 2001), and to increase spatial competitiveness (Gordon, 2011). Blanchard et al. (2012) argue that small health businesses generate significant economic benefits for communities. In another study, Farmer et al. (2012a) found that health services support the social fabric of rural communities and contribute to the sustainability of the community. ...
... Overall, however, addressing inequalities needs targeted policies that respond to the needs of a specific population (World Health Organization, 2012). Blanchard et al. (2012) argue that communities with many small-sized health businesses (ceteris paribus) present with a better quality of health services and better standards of living for their residents than others which do not. Farmer et al. (2012b) indicate that the health status of rural people and the provision of health services can be improved through more thorough research, with the contribution of theories and ideas from a variety of scientific fields. ...
Purpose
The COVID-19 crisis has brought to the forefront the importance of rural health enterprises (RHEs), the peculiarity, in these terms, of rural areas, and the impact of rurality on health entrepreneurial activities. This paper aims to undertake a literature review regarding RHEs in the EU, identify research gaps and set future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted and the key aspects coded across four thematic areas – after examining 68 papers.
Findings
The findings reveal that more intense research should be conducted across four area which emerged; rural health providers vs urban health providers; RHEs and rural development; RHEs and quality of life; and social RHEs.
Research limitations/implications
Future research avenues were identified and suggestions for further research on RHEs were provided.
Practical implications
The paper provides insights into how rural areas can attract health enterprises and how health enterprises can operate in rural areas.
Originality/value
This research expands on the limited existing knowledge of RHEs and sets the foundations for further research.
... Civic community scholars propose that local capitalism is more effective at local problem solving when there is a strong, independent middle class comprising local civic and government leaders, locally oriented entrepreneurs, and business owners (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2012;Lee and Berthelot 2010;Lee and Thomas 2010;Tolbert et al. 2002;Tolbert et al. 1998). Charles M. Tolbert (2005:1,310) argues that a higher concentration of locally owned businesses enhances quality of life, provides more civic engagement, and provides a stronger capacity for local problem solving. ...
... Past civic community research on this topic has drawn this conclusion based primarily on data that examine the impact of locally owned businesses and indicators of community well-being at different levels of aggregation (counties, commuter zones, labor market areas, cities, Census tracts). For example, Troy Blanchard et al. (2012) demonstrate a correlation between percent of county establishments that are small businesses (presumably locally owned) and county-level measures of public health (diabetes, heart deaths). Their conclusion is based on an untested relationship between small business owners and their level of civic engagement in the counties in question. ...
We test whether the self-employed have higher levels of civic inclination (trust, political activism, community closeness, community participation) compared to workers from the private sector. We examine the civic inclinations of the self-employed with two national cross-sectional data sets. We use a variety of discrete and continuous regression models. We find that the self-employed have higher levels of political activism, feel closer to neighbors and family, and have greater odds of engaging to solve community problems. We fail to detect differences in donating money, attending community events, and closeness to friends. Previous research has concluded with county-level data that the self-employed are important actors in building community and creating social capital. Our results add to this literature by showing that the self-employed have higher levels of civic inclination with individual-level data. Implications for theory and research are discussed.
... Research from the civil society perspective illuminates the ability of locally oriented institutions to facilitate thriving defined by measures of civic participation (Blanchard and Matthews 2006), socioeconomic well-being in terms of income, poverty rates, and unemployment rates (Tolbert et al. 1998), mortality (Blanchard et al. 2011), migration (Irwin et al. 2004), and crime (Lee and Bartkowski 2004). Even in the context of a globalizing economy, community businesses, civic organizations, and voluntary organizations promote the welfare of a community in ways that transnational and transregional corporations do not, precisely because they are locally oriented. ...
... To test hypotheses, I combined data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reports, the 2010 U.S. Religious Census: Religious Congregations and Membership Study (RCMS), the 2010 U.S. Census, the 2010 American Communities Survey (ACS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service, and the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS). Following prior research on the civil society perspective (Blanchard et al. 2011;Blanchard and Matthews 2006;Irwin et al. 2004;Tolbert et al. 1998), my unit of analysis was the U.S. county (or equivalent), an approach that has pros and cons. Pragmatically, the county represents the smallest political unit for which some of the data are currently available on a broad scale, including aggregated religious affiliation rates for the U.S. population. ...
Objectives
The civil society perspective predicts that civic and voluntary organizations promote the welfare of communities by enhancing social capital and cohesion. Here, I examine whether black Protestant churches, because of their dual emphasis on personal piety and social justice, function as agents of civil society in the southern United States by reducing crime, and whether structural context moderates the relationship between black religious ecology and crime.
Methods
With data from the 2010 Religious Congregations and Membership Survey, I used spatial regression analyses to estimate models of arrest rates in 799 southern counties. I examined indices representing both property and violent crime provided in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Results
In main effects models, black Protestant density related inversely to county-level property crime arrest rates, but it was unrelated to violent crime arrest rates. Interactive models revealed that black Protestant affiliation was particularly protective of property crime in counties with the highest levels of resource disadvantage. While black Protestant affiliation was protective of both property and violent crime in low-income counties, it had a positive association with arrest rates in high-income counties.
Conclusions
Net of total religious adherence, the Black Church has a uniquely protective effect against crime in the most disadvantaged southern communities. Findings were largely consistent with ecological theories related to social capital, social organization, and collective efficacy. They also highlight limits to the moral communities thesis. Results suggest that more scholarship should examine racialized law enforcement practices in high-income counties.
... Here, theory pertaining to substantive concerns such as civic society, the state, and economic sectors (e.g., extractive industry and manufacturing) is extended spatially to explain variations in subnational development. For example, Charles Tolbert, Thomas Lyson, and Michael Irwin (1998) and Troy Blanchard, Charles Tolbert, and Carson Mencken (2012) build from the civic society literature that emphasizes the role of small business or independent middle-class producers in economic development. Small (relative to large) business tends to promote ...
... Studies now span an array of economic sectors and development outcomes. Examples from the United States include attention to foreignowned firms and their effects on earnings inequality (Grant and Hutchinson 1996;Wallace, Gauchat, and Fullerton 2012), small, locally owned businesses and their impacts on general socioeconomic conditions and health status (Tolbert, Lyson, and Irwin 1998;Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2012), industries' effects on regional environmental conditions (Hooks and Smith 2004), and the impacts of industrialized farming on socioeconomic, health, and environmental conditions (Lobao and Stofferhan 2008). Attention is also given to specific industries touted by public officials to increase economic development, such as high-technology industries (Jenkins, Leicht, and Wendt 2006), producer services (Goe 1994), and, for rural U.S. regions, prisons, which appear to be a de-development strategy ). ...
Spatial scale is an implicit but often unacknowledged organizing framework for sociological inquiry on development. The study of social change-including the causes and consequences of development-can be addressed at a variety of territorial resolutions. However, as is the case with sociological subfields, certain scales become privileged for theoretical and historical reasons. For the study of development, customary attention has always been given to the nation-state and beyond, a vast cross-national literature charting the position of nations in the global system. This renders other spatial scales of analysis nearly invisible to the point where development sociology is often viewed as synonymous with cross-national research or research on the nation-state, particularly in the Global South (Lobao, Hooks, and Tickamyer 2007). The purpose of this chapter is to explain the contours of the sociological study of development at the subnational scale. I draw together conceptual and empirical com-monalities across studies, explain the theoretical history behind contemporary work, and denote research contributions and gaps. By the subnational scale, I mean regional territory below the nation-state level and beyond the limits of individual cities or communities. Research at this scale is significant for sociology because it addresses serious questions about development that span theoretical, substantive, political, and policy issues across territorial units within nation-states. Despite the eventual geographic leveling implied in the classical theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Émile Durkheim and left unquestioned in much theorizing about modernity, uneven development persists within nations and is evident in geographic
... While this is hopeful news, diabetes prevalence remains an important public health issue and requires continued research to further identify factors relevant to maintaining this progress (1). Ecological studies exploring diabetes prevalence in the U.S. have shown geographic clusters of high and low diabetes prevalence within single communities (4) and among communities within a single state (5,6), as well as across the entirety of the U.S. (7)(8)(9)(10). Among these studies, racial/ethnic populations and poverty (7), food environment measures (6,8), and local business or entrepreneurial culture (9,10) have all been shown to be associated with diabetes prevalence. ...
... Ecological studies exploring diabetes prevalence in the U.S. have shown geographic clusters of high and low diabetes prevalence within single communities (4) and among communities within a single state (5,6), as well as across the entirety of the U.S. (7)(8)(9)(10). Among these studies, racial/ethnic populations and poverty (7), food environment measures (6,8), and local business or entrepreneurial culture (9,10) have all been shown to be associated with diabetes prevalence. Most importantly, ecological diabetes research has established a geographically distinct area known as the "Diabetes Belt," which is a region of counties (n 5 644) in the Southern U.S. characterized by diabetes prevalence of 11% or greater among the adult population (11). ...
Objective:
To investigate differences in community characteristics associated with diabetes prevalence between the Diabetes Belt and the rest of the contiguous United States (U.S.) METHODS: County-level adult diabetes prevalence estimates (i.e., percent of people [≥20 years] with diagnosed diabetes 2009) were used from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in addition to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to carry out a spatial regime analysis to identify county-level factors correlated with diabetes prevalence in the Diabetes Belt versus the remainder of the U.S.
Results:
Counties outside of the Diabetes Belt demonstrated stronger positive associations between diabetes prevalence and persistent poverty and greater percentages of unemployed labor forces. For counties in the Diabetes Belt, diabetes prevalence showed a stronger positive association with natural amenities (e.g., temperate climate and topographic features) and a stronger negative association with fitness/recreation facility density.
Conclusions:
Community-level correlates of diabetes prevalence differed between the Diabetes Belt and elsewhere in the U.S. Economic hardship was shown to be more relevant outside the Diabetes Belt, while recreational context effects were more pronounced among counties within the region. Prevention and treatment targets are geographically unique, and public health efforts should acknowledge these differences in crafting policy.
... Small businesses are embedded in the community and have a greater investment in the well-being of local residents, and this can provide an entrepreneurial culture providing capacity for a community to self-develop (Blanchard et al., 2011citing Lyson et al., 2001and Green et al., 1990. Community participation in local problem-solving is more evident where there is a small business environment (Blanchard and Matthews, 2006). ...
... The coming together of community members to work collectively can promote community and individual health (Glaeser et al., 2002) and even happiness (Islam et al., 2006). Termed "collective efficacy" (Domínguez and Arford, 2010;Blanchard et al., 2011), such an approach can promote walkability and community safety (Cohen et al., 2006). Citizens should have the right to change the city (Harvey, 2003) as well as a right to the city. ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this short article is to outline a research agenda to further our understanding of how retail areas are influenced by, and adapt to, change. This is part of an Economic and Social Research Council-funded project High Street UK 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
– We outline a research agenda – containing factors which High Street stakeholders in Alsager, Altrincham, Ballymena, Barnsley, Bristol, Congleton, Holmfirth, Market Rasen, Morley and Wrexham have identified as influencing the vitality and viability of their retail areas. Currently, there is little or no academic evidence available to support these factors; therefore, they are worthy of further research.
Findings
– The towns assert that the following factors influence High Street performance (either positively or negatively) and need further research: business support; engagement and engaged businesses; fragmentation; information; Internet connectivity; local knowledge; measuring economic impact/value; media coverage; networking; public sector dependency and risk aversion.
Research limitations/implications
– Only 10 towns have taken part in the research. Nevertheless, they are representative of the research-user community for retail centre research.
Practical implications
– This research agenda will enable researchers to respond to a clear gap in our knowledge about High Street performance, as identified by towns themselves.
Social implications
– By undertaking the research that people that manage retail areas need, it will enable practitioners to make better informed decisions and manage these important areas more effectively to the benefit of their local communities.
Originality/value
– By allowing town centre managers, traders, council members/officials and “concerned citizens” to set the agenda for research production in the area of retail centre change, we anticipate forthcoming research in this area will be more highly valued by practitioners and have more impact in “the real world”.
... These variables are extensively recognized in scholarly research as fundamental requirements that are essential for healthy and sustainable communities (Sirgy et al., 2010;Summers et al., 2012;Sung & Phillips, 2018;Theodori, 2001). For instance, we employed health insurance coverage as an indicator of a basic health need within a community, recognizing its crucial role in facilitating access to healthcare services, particularly in the context of a progressively less affordable healthcare system (Blanchard et al., 2012;Gaudette et al., 2018), which has paramount implications for community health outcomes. Health insurance significantly contributes to reducing mortality rates, particularly among children and adults with high-risk health profiles (Doyle, 2005;Dozier et al., 2010;Gaudette et al., 2018;Howell et al., 2010;Wherry & Meyer, 2016), preventing the onset of chronic conditions (Boudreaux et al., 2016;Gaudette et al., 2018), and improving mental health status, notably in lowincome populations (Baicker et al., 2013;Gaudette et al., 2018;McMorrow et al., 2016). ...
As the 21st century progresses, rural residents across the United States have often found themselves in disadvantaged positions by many socio-economic measures compared to their urban counterparts. In addition, agriculture– once the emblem of rurality– shares a disputed relationship with the well-being of rural communities in social science literature. However, the literature specifically related to how community well-being (CWB) varies across both rurality and agricultural engagement is limited. This study addresses this gap in the body of knowledge. Using county-level data on socioeconomic conditions from the past decade, we examine how agricultural engagement is associated with community well-being in rural areas. We combine descriptive statistics and linear regression analysis with mapping techniques to identify and visualize patterns in the data. We show that CWB varies widely regardless of rural status and engagement in agriculture across the 3107 counties included in the study. However, the most disadvantaged communities are primarily located in rural places. Study findings also show that agricultural engagement is usually associated with somewhat improved, but not significantly different, CWB in rural areas. These findings indicate that the level of urbanicity/rurality might be the primary factor driving differences in CWB and that CWB in rural communities is generally similar regardless of local economies’ reliance on agriculture.
... This, in turn, leads to stronger communities-a climate in which community members can utilize their political and social capital to address social problems. Empirical research on this topic indicates that such communities have better physical health, less net emigration, and less crime-related problems (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2012;Lee 2008). Our results show that local finance has helped to create new businesses between 1980 and 2010 in non-core and micropolitan CZs. ...
Recent research on the restructuring of the financial industry from local banks to interstate conglomerates has raised questions about the impact on nonmetropolitan economies. In this paper, we develop two competing hypotheses and scrutinize the impact of local bank concentration (percent banks that are locally headquartered) on four measures of economic growth from 1980 to 2010 in metropolitan, micropolitan, and non‐core Commuting Zones (CZs). We employ fixed effects panel regression models for the 1980–2010 time frame. We find that local bank concentration is positively related to business births and establishment dynamics in non‐core and micropolitan CZs. The effects of local banking on measures of income and wages fail to show consistent effects. There are no positive local banking concentration effects on economic growth in metropolitan CZs during this time frame. Implications for theory, research, and policy are discussed.
... MSMEs also play a significant role in building urban space and improving urban vitality and attractiveness (Kim and Yun, 2021). As an important component of MSMEs, the survival and development of small businesses under the strike of any pandemic could closely affect many aspects of any region, such as economy, society, scientific and technological innovation, and urban vitality (Parker, 2006;Blanchard and Tolbert, 2012;Lee, 2018;Kalogiannidis, 2020;Tuymuratovich, 2021;Vinberg and Danielsson, 2021). ...
The long-term viability of small businesses in the aftermath of multiple pandemics and consequent lockdowns has a crucial impact on the sustainable economic and social development of any region across the world. Thus, in order to investigate what has been the major impact of COVID-19 pandemic within local small businesses and to identify which main factors helped small businesses to survive none as well as multiple lockdowns, data were obtained from 382 small businesses in the main urban area of Wuhan, China, via two rounds of field investigations and surveys in July 2020 and July 2022. This paper presents the results of the field investigations and the surveys completed and describes the Bayesian methods applied to quantitatively explore the impact of different variables on the probability of each business to remain active and open even after experiencing none or multiple lockdowns. Results obtained show that the difference between survival rates associated with businesses hit by no pandemic outbreak with those hit by one or several waves is negligible. Furthermore, owners who had higher confidence in their abilities since the beginning or they implemented an accurate evaluation of their strategies to run their businesses since the start of the pandemic, demonstrated to have a higher probability to keep their business alive with none as well as additional waves of the pandemic. Reduction of employees, transition of operations and promotion activities online as well as rent subsidies and tax reduction were identified as crucial actions that enhanced the probability to maintain alive businesses that experienced at least one lockdown. Globally, there was no clear policy approach at the start of the pandemic, however this study clearly determines that in future governments should provide timely support to small businesses in regions experiencing more severe impacts of the pandemic, and this should consist of a mix of grants, loans, and temporary tax cuts since initial stages.
... A person's health is determined by social and economic factors, the environment in which they live, their behavior, and the quality of health care they are able to access (Chrisman et al. 2015;Meit 2018). Several public health indicators can be used as a comprehensive measure of the overall health of a community or city (Blanchard et al. 2012; Institute of Medicine (US) 1988; Young et al. 2015). Healthy Chicago is a broad coalition led by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) that's taking important steps for a more just, equitable Chicago (Chicago Department of Public Health 2020). ...
Purpose: This paper utilizes data mining to assist policy makers to better understand the overall health of communities in Chicago area using several public health indicators. The work utilizes regression analysis to establish relationships between social, economic and heath variables. Design/Methodology/Approach: The main goal of the basic analysis was to identify several variables of interest for further investigation by multiple regression analysis. A correlation matrix from R was used to visualize associations between all independent variables and the dependent variables of interest for this study. The Akaike information criterion (AIC) value was then determined using backward variable selection. To classify the Chicago community areas according to similarities, k-means clustering was utilized in R. The data was transformed into a matrix and scaled. Findings: The study found that socio-economic factors such as unemployment and crowded housing contribute to the increase in teen birth rate in Chicago community areas. This indicates that financial problems due to unemployment could lead to teenage pregnancies. The study reveals that assault, cancer, diabetes, and infant mortality all contribute to the increase in death rates in Chicago communities. In addition, unemployment and having no high school diploma is associated with communities being rated below the poverty line. Research Limitations: The challenge in obtaining spatial statistics data for the communities was a major limitation. The spatial data affords a good way to do clustering and visualize the similarities in the communities. Social Implications: For sustainable industrialization within the community, issues of public health are central. This will impliedly require health sector officials to focus more on the significant health issues and educate residents. Originality: The innovation of the use of a simple data mining technique to assess the public health of communities in the Chicago area is unique to other methods employed in the literature.
... There is evidence that counties characterized by a greater density of local businesses have less crime and better public health (Stroope et al. 2014). The authors who made this finding surmise that the social connections and greater wealth of these communities contribute to more effective collective decision-making (Blanchard et al. 2012). Recent research on food systems has shown that local business communities, by embracing local food that's fresher and less processed, have lower rates of obesity and Type II diabetes (Bloom et al. 2018). ...
In a rapidly urbanizing world climate change and biodiversity loss are amongst the biggest risks for societies across the globe. In its annual global risks report the World Economic Forum defines these topics as the risks with the largest likelihood and impact for the global economy. A call for action is widely acknowledged, but the way forward and action perspectives are not always clear. These major topics are often placed at the same level compared to other emerging issues and transitions. Current planning practice shows a wide palette of actions, action-oriented programming and rethinking urban and rural design from different angles and perspectives: circular, smart, adaptive, nature inclusive or resilient. Unfortunately, this seldom ends up in a coherent planning strategy and integrated design for a circular, smart, adaptive, nature inclusive and resilient city . This is not unique to the urban tissue but is also common practice in rural areas. Additionally, urban and rural strategies are also still heavily disconnected, although clear relationships and interdependencies across social, economic and natural systems are eminent. Above all, the revaluation of green and blue in both urban and rural areas is moderately moving forward. But a radical rethinking, intertwining the natural basis in all our actions and perspectives as a solid fundament for a sustainable, resilient and prosperous future , is often missing. Do we see and understand the complete picture? Do we embrace diversity and complexity ? And do we really envision an enabling future which combines a long-term perspective with dedicated short-term actions? How do we create a long-term vision for the future in the context of a short-term decision-making practice? Besides reducing negative impacts, a positive impact and future quality in the broadest sense should be enhanced.
... SMBs benefit their local communities by providing local jobs, increasing the tax base, fostering community involvement, and providing diverse, locally sourced/made products and services. They are invested in their communities and improve local median household income, reduce poverty, and decrease income inequality [13,14]. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on the social and economic importance of SMBs and their impact on communities across the U.S. [15], from large cities to more remote areas. ...
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic small businesses made headlines as hard hit by customer losses, revenue declines, and business closures. Yet, the impacts have been felt disproportionately by small businesses that suffered interruption due to pre-existing socioeconomic stressors and/or concurrent natural hazards experienced during the pandemic. To illuminate those compound impacts, we conducted a survey of over 1350 U S.-based small businesses. Our findings indicate that those businesses that experienced concurrent natural hazards during the pandemic were associated with relatively greater negative impacts. But importantly, enterprises that are historically underrepresented group operated (HUGO)—minority, women, and veteran-operated businesses— saw largely amplified negative impacts from COVID-19. In terms of the magnitude of COVID-19 impacts, the effect size of belonging to HUGO was more than twice as large as the effect size of experiencing a concurrent natural hazard during the pandemic. These results provide evidence for the disproportionate impacts that HUGOs face due to the pandemic, which are exacerbated when compounded by natural hazards. Given these results, there is evidence that the opportunity gap between HUGO and non-HUGO businesses is significant ahead of additional stressors or shocks. This opportunity gap is further accelerated when compounded with other events, here the compounding of natural hazards and COVID-19. Additional interventions need to be offered to HUGO businesses in areas with high likelihood of overlapping incidents. Further work is required to address social inequity and economic fragility of HUGO businesses, especially those that face the complexity of additional shocks, such as natural hazards.
... Studies show that civically engaged communities are associated with lower incidences of violent crime and all-cause mortality in counties across the country (Lee, 2008(Lee, , 2010Lee & Thomas, 2010). Similarly, an analysis of population health in relation to business size in 3,060 U.S. counties found that the presence of large retailers has a detrimental effect on age-adjusted rates of mortality and the presence of obese adults (Blanchard, Tolbert, & Mencken, 2011). Of note, race is glaringly absent as a variable of differentiated analysis. ...
“Civic agriculture,” a term first coined by rural sociologist Thomas Lyson, refers to forms of agriculture that occur on a local level, from production to consumption, and are linked to a community’s social and economic development. Sixteen years since its original articulation, the term “civic agriculture” has taken on greater significance in research, political activism, and community organizing. Grown from the roots of civic community theory, civic agriculture functions as a new branch of civic community theory that is ripe for theorization. In revisiting the foundations of the term, this review paper seeks to consolidate current and future research in the field of civic agriculture with a focus on its link to social welfare. This begins by reviewing the foundations of civic community theory and discussing how they influence research related to civic agriculture. As we report in this paper, there remain considerable gaps in understanding of how civic agriculture can be fomented by—or is related to—indicators such as demographics, concentration of power, community cohesion, and civic engagement. Consequently, the assumed links between local food systems and social welfare must continue to be studied to determine correlation and causality. This understanding is particularly important during this time of global pandemic, when the flaws and inequities of global supply chains are exposed and where, in many cases, civic agriculture met the increasing interest in local food. The COVID-19 pandemic has amply demonstrated the fragility and instability of global food supply chains, making the need for local food systems more significant and more relevant to communities across the world.
... An independent middle class of local business owners creates the type of climate in which community members can utilize their political and social capital to address social problems. Empirical research on this topic indicates that such communities have better public health, less net out-migration, less unemployment, and fewer crime related problems (Irwin et al., 1999;Lee, 2008;Blanchard et al., 2011). Our analysis shows that access to local capital is important for local business birth in rural locales. ...
Access to financial capital is vital for the sustainability of the local business sector. Recent research on the restructuring of the financial industry from local owned banks to interstate conglomerates has raised questions about the impact on local economies, especially in rural areas. We examine the impact of bank ownership concentration on business formations, continuations, and deaths in metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural non-core U.S. counties. Using limited-access Census data, we find that local bank concentration is positively related to business births and deaths, or churn, in rural counties, but the opposite effects occur in metropolitan areas. We demonstrate robustness to several specifications and spatial spillover effects.
... Yet, empirical work in this camp has largely looked past local economies' organizational or financial market structures to focus on their sectoral composition, industrial specialization or diversity, and pools of available skills or human capital. Sociologists, in contrast, have explored how systems of small firms and nonprofits serve as infrastructures in social life for individual and collective efficacy and robust social action in response to challenges (Klinenberg, 2002;Sampson et al., 2005;Small, 2009;Blanchard et al., 2012). But, they have barely begun to apply these ideas to local economies, and have yet to apply them to how actors in those economies respond to recession. ...
How might the structure of banking affect economic resilience? We address this question by analyzing how the organizational structures of banks and banking markets were associated with unemployment trajectories in local economies during the Great Recession. Two county-level analyses yield convergent results. Increasing branch densities of giant derivative holding banks within local economies were associated with greater surges in unemployment, weaker employment recoveries and stronger recession effects on unemployment from 2007 through 2016. Increasing branch densities of community banks and credit unions and localism in banking were associated with lower unemployment spikes, stronger recoveries and dampened crisis effects. These findings advance sociological studies of finance by providing new quantitative evidence for links between the social structures of banking and economic performance. They also confound arguments that decentralized systems of small, locally based financial institutions are inherently fragile by design, suggesting instead that alternatives to ‘too-big-to-fail’ banking can enhance local economies’ capacities to adapt proactively, withstand crisis and sustain employment during recessions.
... 43 Further, research demonstrates areas with more locally owned businesses have stronger local economies 44 and that small businesses increase collective efficacy in their communities. 45 This web of relationships ultimately suggests the absence of jobs and locally owned small businesses are factors in a weak local economy, widespread unemployment, and fractured collective efficacy -all contributors to community trauma. However, there are many unanswered questions. ...
Trauma, which refers to an emotional response from circumstances deemed as harmful, can have negative, long-term impacts on an individual’s mental and physical health. This article examines the literature on how trauma experienced at the individual-level is influenced by trauma experienced at the community-level and summarizes how each is typically defined and addressed. While much of the focus has been on addressing trauma at the individual level, trauma at the community level directly impacts individual experiences. The Social Ecological Model indicates
individual trauma cannot truly be addressed without also addressing community-level factors, including housing, education, and employment opportunities.
... An independent middle class of local business owners creates the type of climate in which community members can utilize their political and social capital to address social problems. Empirical research on this topic indicates that such communities have better public health, less net out-migration, less unemployment, and fewer crime related problems (Irwin et al., 1999;Lee, 2008;Blanchard et al., 2011). Our analysis shows that access to local capital is important for local business birth in rural locales. ...
Access to financial capital is vital for the sustainability of the local business sector. Recent research on the restructuring of the financial industry from local owned banks to interstate conglomerates has raised questions about the impact on local economies, especially in rural areas. We examine the impact of bank ownership concentration on business formations, continuations, and deaths in metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural non-core U.S. counties. Using limited-access Census data, we find that local bank concentration is positively related to business births and deaths, or churn, in rural counties, but the opposite effects occur in metropolitan areas. We demonstrate robustness to several specifications and spatial spillover effects.
... External measures by the state to support sustainable rural development have often centred on improvements to infrastructure, linking rural places to larger service centres, but much of the resilience exhibited has come from endogenous sources, such as local entrepreneurs, regional trade associations and clusters of small businesses. In the United States research suggests that if endogeneity gives rural people more control over the local economy rather than being reliant on inputs from external sources such as government or multi-national corporations then there is a greater chance of socioeconomic well-being and rising civic welfare (Blanchard et al. 2011). Yet, there may be significant limits to how the local level can shape and influence different development path creation processes, especially given the limited capabilities of many small villages and the power of globalising forces. ...
... Without lending, nonmetropolitan businesses will suffer; without borrowers, nonmetropolitan banks will suffer. Without banks and small businesses, rural communities suffer (see Blanchard, Tolbert, & Mencken, 2012;Irwin, Tolbert, & Lyson, 1999;Tolbert, Irwin, Lyson, & Nucci, 2002;Tolbert, Lyson, & Irwin, 1998). ...
How does the presence or absence of small business loans affect the emergence and development of rural businesses in traditionally underserved areas? Further, how has capital-intensive oil and gas development contributed to these lending patterns? In our ongoing work, we have established that locally oriented businesses such as small manufacturing establishments and retail outlets are associated with many beneficial local outcomes and promote nonmetropolitan community resilience. Using a longitudinal dataset based on annual public disclosures, we employ data on lending in more than 3,000 United States counties to build analytical visualizations. We provide relevant documentation through spatial statistics for future research on small business lending in underserved nonmetropolitan communities.
... Research has revealed a wealth of positive impacts small businesses have had within local communities. In areas where small businesses have flourished, population health has improved, the poverty rate has lowered, civic engagement has increased and job creation has flourished (Blanchard et al., 2012;Tolbert et al., 2002). Entrepreneurship has also been shown to aid the economic development of certain disadvantaged groups in U.S. society, including racial minorities and immigrants (Nopper, 2011). ...
... This spillover effect can even be established at an aggregate level. Blanchard et al. (2012) show a link between the number of independent small businesses and some health indicators such as mortality, occurrence of diabetes and obesity, in the surrounding area. The authors suggest that an entrepreneurial culture implies that people take destiny, including health issues, in their own hands. ...
The present article identifies a societal and scholarly neglect for the field of small business ownership and health. We address health capital and its spillover effects and briefly outline a research program discriminating between pathogenic (negative for health) and salutogenic (positive for health) effects for a small business owner’s working life.
... An independent middle class of local business owners creates the type of climate in which community members can utilize their political and social capital to address social problems. Empirical research on this topic indicates that such communities have better phys- ical health (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2012;Blanchard et al. 2013), less net out-migration (Irwin, Tolbert, and Lyson 1999), and fewer crime-related problems ( Lee and Berthelot 2010;Lee and Thomas 2010). Our analysis proposes that access to local capital is impor- tant for local business birth and expansion since 2000. ...
... In 2014, 55 percent of U.S. nonelderly adults had employer-based insurance, but this aggregate masks considerable variation in employer-sponsored coverage rates, with statewide rates ranging from 43 percent to 68 percent (Kaiser Family Foundation 2016). Decades of industrial restructuring has rescaled employment and contributed to reductions in unions and bargaining power, lower pay, less job security, less full-time employment, and more part-time and contingent work, all of which resulted in cuts to employer-subsidized insurance and reduced access to wages necessary to afford insurance premiums (Blanchard, Tolbert, and Mencken 2011). ...
Hispanics have the lowest health insurance rates of any racial or ethnic group, but rates vary significantly across the United States. The unprecedented growth of the Hispanic population since 1990 in rural areas with previously small or nonexistent Hispanic populations raises questions about disparities in access to health insurance coverage. Identifying spatial disparities in Hispanic health insurance rates can illuminate the specific contexts within which Hispanics are least likely to have health care access and inform policy approaches for increasing coverage in different spatial contexts. Using county-level data from the 2009–13 American Community Survey, I find that early new destinations (i.e., those that experienced rapid Hispanic population growth during the 1990s) have the lowest Hispanic adult health insurance coverage rates, with little variation by metropolitan status. Conversely, among the most recent new destinations that experienced significant Hispanic population growth during the first decade of the 2000s, metropolitan counties have Hispanic health insurance rates that are similar to established destinations, but rural counties have Hispanic health insurance rates that are significantly lower than those in established destinations. Findings demonstrate that the new destination disadvantage is driven entirely by higher concentrations of immigrant noncitizen Hispanics in these counties, but labor market conditions were salient drivers of the spatially uneven distribution of foreign-born noncitizen Hispanics to new destinations, particularly in rural areas.
... Project No. TEXR-2008-02636 (Charles Tolbert, PI, with Carson Mencken, co-PI). Notes 1. See Blanchard et al. (2012), Irwin et al. (1999), Lee and Ousey (2001), Lyson et al. (2001), Mencken et al. (2006), Tolbert et al. (1998Tolbert et al. ( , 2002, Young and Lyson (1993). 2. See Bader et al. (2007) to refer to the methodology used with the Baylor Religion Surveys. ...
We explore how firm size and local ownership influence employees’ organizational commitment. Using a civic community perspective, we hypothesize that small and locally owned businesses engender more employee loyalty in a representative national sample of workers. That hypothesis is supported for all workers and is most clearly evident in a subsample of rural workers. Our results show that working at small businesses and locally owned businesses significantly increases an employee’s organizational commitment. Furthermore, individuals who work at small businesses that are also locally owned are found to have the highest level of organizational commitment. Our study provides insight into how structural elements of an organization, such as small businesses and locally owned businesses, are associated with an improved quality of life and a more robust civil society. Moreover, this paper highlights the need for further research on how structural attributes of businesses affect the attitudes and opinions of workers.
... Rates of mortality, obesity, and diabetes were lower in the former group. [247] A wide assortment of the products and services used by individuals and businesses within a community would become candidates for local production. Initial funding might focus on production of relatively simple products like soap, toothpaste, paper towels, food, beverages, and clothes, as well as on common services like cleaning, graphic arts, accounting, and repair. ...
From the back cover:
The world faces serious economic, environmental, and social challenges. Unfettered capitalism itself is increasingly seen as part of the problem, as Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, and other economists demonstrate. In Economic Direct Democracy: A Framework to End Poverty and Maximize Well-Being, John Boik proposes an innovative social framework that enables communities to strengthen local economies, and take meaningful action on infrastructure, debt, income inequality, health care, climate change, and environmental degradation. He challenges us to examine the basic purpose of an economic system, and to consider that human nature drives individuals toward deeper cooperation. Boik's proposal integrates multiple local movement, participatory democracy, and open society initiatives into a single framework that helps organize and enhance existing city, county, or regional economies. By infusing a local economy with 21st century direct democracy, the system empowers local areas to take the lead in making real change. The hopeful message is that we can increase incomes, end poverty, reach full employment, and address major social and environmental problems, in our lifetime.
The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship between the marketing plan and the quality of customer service with the brand positioning of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) retailers in the commerce sector in the May region. The analysis is based on the application of 107 surveys carried out randomly to entrepreneurs in the May region and making use of statistical analysis with SPSS. 39 elements were analyzed: for the variable Y brand positioning 26 elements; for variable X1 marketing plan, 5 elements; and for variable X2 quality of customer service, 8 elements. It was found that there is a significant correlation of the proposed variables Marketing Plan (X1) and Quality in Customer Service (X2) with the Positioning of a brand.
The current literature on resilience planning, especially related to supply chains, rarely considers the difference between intended and actualized behaviors toward mitigation and adaptation actions. However, a potential contributor to taking on supply chain pre-disaster planning tends to be individual and institutional risk perceptions encountered in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen I Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50:179–211, 1991). The theory suggests that an agent’s intentions to implement mitigation and/or adaptation actions inform their resilience capacity toward a given disaster event that is comparable to data on interruption and recovery post-event.The gist of this chapter hinges on the idea that supply chain management (SCM) has been largely successful in providing a normative framework supporting decisions involved in the design (e.g., plant location, sourcing and procurement, transportation), planning (e.g., demand forecasting, aggregate planning), coordination (e.g., organizational talent, collaboration, and integration), and risk management (e.g., excess capacity, inventory buffers, suppliers diversification); however, the field has largely not addressed the underlying behavioral mechanism that drives an agent’s decision-making process in the specific context of pre-disaster planning (i.e., mitigation) and adaptation decisions. Failing to understand why intention and actualized behavior toward mitigation and adaptation differ is an obstacle to effectively coping with disruption risks and may pose a threat to the resilience of the supply chain given that some mitigation actions aim at building or increasing a firm’s inherent resilience capacity and at improving its ability to adapt to disruptions potentially affecting business continuity. This topic is particularly relevant for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that play a critical role within their communities and do not have resources to incorporate sophisticated business continuity plans or emergency management plans within their risk management frameworks.
Amidst a vast jungle of products, brands, materials, labels, and systems of global trade and production, it has become increasingly challenging to make consumption choices that may be considered "sustainable". This inquiry examines the decision-making process of a team of university outdoor environmental educators, as they puzzled over the most appropriate shell jacket to purchase for their outdoor teaching. The project's first aim was to determine the team's most important features of sustainability with regard to clothing procurement, while the second was to interrogate these features in relation to germane literature and guidance. Driven by a practitioner inquiry approach, the team of eight interrogated their own beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge about outdoor clothing over seven months. Data were generated through four group discussions, where the content from each was thematically analyzed and then used as a platform for the following meeting. Ultimately, four factors emerged as central to informing their outdoor clothing purchases: (1) durability, (2) assurances of ecologically friendly production, (3) assurances of fair labour conditions, and (4) underlying socio-political motivators. Navigating the varied and shifting ground of eco-labels and certifications in relation to environmental sustainability and fair labour conditions is highlighted as a central challenge to making nature-and human-friendly purchases. Interrogating the drivers and surrounding information around material consumption is positioned as a valuable pedagogical enterprise in itself.
https://cjee.lakeheadu.ca/article/view/1810
U.S. Commuting Zones (CZs) are an aggregation of county-level data that researchers commonly use to create less arbitrary spatial entities and to reduce spatial autocorrelation. However, by further aggregating data, researchers lose point data and the associated detail. Thus, the choice between using counties or CZs often remains subjective with insufficient empirical evidence guiding researchers in the choice. This article categorizes regional data as entrepreneurial, economic, social, demographic, or industrial and tests for the existence of local spatial autocorrelation in county and CZ data. We find CZs often reduce—but do not eliminate and can even increase—spatial autocorrelation for variables across categories. We then test the potential for regional variation in spatial autocorrelation with a series of maps and find variation based on the variable of interest. We conclude that the use of CZs does not eliminate the need to test for spatial autocorrection, but CZs may be useful for reducing spatial autocorrelation in many cases.
Globalizacija i internacionalizacija na tržištu maloprodaje dovode do povećanja tržišne koncentracije. Proces koncentracije maloprodajnog tržišta ima faze jačeg i slabijeg intenziteta. No, trend povećanja koncentracije se neprestano odvija gotovo zadnja tri desetljeća. Maloprodaja je danas postala visoko globalizirana industrija, sa snažnom i brzom dinamikom promjena ali i izazova. U radu se istražuje korelacija između razlika u tržišnim udjelima hrvatskih maloprodajnih poduzeća i njihove poslovne uspješnosti. Autor polazi od pretpostavke da razlike u tržišnom udjelu imaju statistički značajan utjecaj na razlike vezane uz sam poslovni rezultat maloprodajnih poduzeća u Republici Hrvatskoj. Istraživanje je provedeno na cijelokupnom hrvatskom tržištu maloprodaje, ali isto tako su analizirane specifičnosti i posebnosti vezane uz Kontinentalnu i Jadransku Hrvatsku. Rezultati istraživanja nedvojbeno potvrđuju da postoji značajna razlika vezana uz bruto dobiti po zaposlenom između maloprodajnih poslovnih subjekta podijeljenih u pet skupina, odnosno grupiranih u skladu s različitim tržišnim udjelima. Provedeno istraživanje također ukazuje da u Kontinentalnoj i Jadranskoj Hrvatskoj postoje specifičnosti u vezi s tim razlikama.
The events of 2020 have challenged the vitality and viability of our local places, main streets, shopping malls, community meeting places. The Covid-19 virus revealed how fragile these places were, how much we relied on them and how our approach to them needs to enable greater agility, adaptability and resilience. A new approach to local place
and economic
development is urgently needed.To address this challenge, a new framework is proposed, one with three overarching principles. It starts with place
, understanding what is unique and vital about a community and how to nurture it. This is followed by regeneration
, or regenerative development, an approach which explicitly looks at how to actively contribute to the aspects of a place
that bring it to life. The last of the foundational principles is the concept of connectivity
, which recommends building relationships between elements in a place
, its people, its businesses and its ecosystems.Supporting these three are seven sub-principles. These provide the methods and concepts to support the development of what we call “the New Local,” a plan and a strategy to drive recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 virus while ensuring greater ability to respond to future
stresses. These principles are: diversification
, ownership
, reinvestment
, innovation
, equity
, democracy
, and culture
. The potency of this model it the interrelated and integrated nature of all the principles, it does not privilege economy, or nature, or place
, but shows how they are all needed to create a resilient, adaptive local place
.This chapter outlines each of the principles, applies them in a case study, and shows how they can inform the redesign of a community’s physical space and economy. The principles come from the combined experience of 80 years of practice in local economic
development, placemaking and regenerative development.KeywordsPlacemakingLocal economic developmentRegenerative developmentResilienceAdaptabilityCommunityCovid-19
Relatively little research examines the microfoundations of social responsibility in the small business setting, despite the demonstrated importance of entrepreneurs’ socially responsible behavior to their communities. Prior research suggests that although men and women are similar in their propensities to engage in helping behaviors, gender remains an important consideration. We integrate the sorting model from the civic engagement literature and enlightened self-interest with gender role theory to examine why and how entrepreneurs vary in socially responsible behaviors. Our results demonstrate that male and female entrepreneurs are similarly motivated by enlightened self-interest, but the sorting model of education better explains male entrepreneurs’ social responsibility.
The rise and expansion of large retail firms marks a significant shift in economic organization across communities in the United States. In this article, we describe this shift and discuss implications for local economic structure and community well-being. We present theoretical perspectives on the concentration of productive resources and review findings from empirical studies linking retail-sector concentration to wages, jobs, and small firms as well as a host of community well-being outcomes, such as poverty, civic participation, health, and crime. Although most scholarly and public attention to this issue has focused on understanding impacts of Walmart in particular, our review seeks to highlight more general processes of rationalization, concentration, and a changing industrial structure. We conclude with a critique and directions for future research.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology Volume 45 is July 30, 2019. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
The Routledge Companion to Rural Planning provides a critical account and state of the art review of rural planning in the early years of the twenty-first century. Looking across different international experiences-from Europe, North America and Australasia to the transition and emerging economies, including BRIC and former communist states-it aims to develop new conceptual propositions and theoretical insights, supported by detailed case studies and reviews of available data. The Companion gives coverage to emerging topics in the field and seeks to position rural planning in the broader context of global challenges: climate change, the loss of biodiversity, food and energy security, and low carbon futures. It also looks at old, established questions in new ways: at social and spatial justice, place shaping, economic development, and environmental and landscape management. Planning in the twenty-first century must grapple not only with the challenges presented by cities and urban concentration, but also grasp the opportunities-and understand the risks-arising from rural change and restructuring. Rural areas are diverse and dynamic. This Companion attempts to capture and analyse at least some of this diversity, fostering a dialogue on likely and possible rural futures between a global community of rural planning researchers. Primarily intended for scholars and graduate students across a range of disciplines, such as planning, rural geography, rural sociology, agricultural studies, development studies, environmental studies and countryside management, this book will prove to be an invaluable and up-to-date resource.
Rapid economic, demographic and social change in America's new Latino destinations has generated concerns about changing quality of life in rural communities. Findings from prior research suggest that the arrival of socioeconomically vulnerable newcomers may undermine demographic foundations of community engagement, and that heterogeneity, segregation, race/ethnic tension, and rising income inequality may reduce aggregate engagement in local affairs. Research on new Latino destinations, however, points to unique attributes of newcomers that may offset these challenges or even enhance community life. In this study, we investigate changes in demographic foundations for participation, community revitalization and shifts in economic, civic and political activity in new nonmetropolitan Latino destinations over the 1990s and 2000s. Using data from the Census of Population, American Community Survey, County Business Patterns, Census of Religion, and voting records, and controlling for relevant county attributes, we compare trajectories of counties that received large numbers of Latinos after 1990 to similar counties that did not experience rapid Latino growth. Difference-in-difference regression analyses reveal that despite erosion of foundations for participation, most notably education, economic well-being and English-language proficiency, Latino influxes have helped to revitalize new destination communities and promoted economic activity conducive to community engagement. Contrary to claims that individuals in more diverse environments withdraw from community life and “hunker down” at home (Putnam 2007), we find no evidence that diversification has reduced community participation; instead, residents of new communities have become more civically and politically engaged.
Among the arguments put forward by proponents of buying local is that it facilitates the accumulation of social capital. However, some research has suggested that social capital may not always confer economic benefits. By this, I mean that too much social capital may lead to adverse outcomes in terms of economic efficiency and the quality of the supporting institutional environment. This paper explores potentially problematic aspects of social capital, especially as they pertain to the buy local movement.
Background:
The pharmaceutical industry has continued to experience a large number of mergers, often involving the very largest companies. Behind many of these mergers has been the desire to achieve scale efficiencies and improved performance in both commercial and research and development (R&D) activities.
Methods:
This research draws upon ClinicalTrials.gov data about commercially sponsored phase 3 clinical trials started and completed between 2008 and 2013. The research uses the bidirectional stepwise Akaike information criterion for model selection, adding a second-order term to the model where second-order terms were significant.
Results:
First, and least surprising, the study therapeutic area has a major impact on study completion times. Second, the protocol design itself, as well as the clinical study execution plan, can have important consequences on study completion times. Several study execution variables are also critical to understanding completion times. While the size of clinical trial organization is not associated with more rapid completion times, the amount of organizational experience that an organization has in a particular therapeutic area does have a demonstrable impact. The models are able to supply the specific number of incremental completion days associated with each significant variable.
Conclusions:
Recent years have witnessed increasingly larger pharmaceutical R&D organizations, as many companies have worked to achieve the scale benefits of organizational size for R&D as well as commercial activity. Larger pharmaceutical companies may still achieve scale benefits. Faster phase 3 study completion times is not one of them.
Walmart has gained a significant reputation as both a sustainable business and a proponent of, and leader in, sustainability. But Walmart seems to be two companies: one which can embrace sustainability outside itself, in its supply chain, and one which does not embrace CSR inside itself, towards employees and the communities where it does business. Walmart's culture of cost containment creates the two Walmarts, one which can do outward facing sustainability activities and the other which is incapable of doing inward facing sustainability. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. All rights are reserved.
Sociologists have long studied subnational development across the United States focusing on state and market forces that contribute to spatial inequality and uneven development. Subnational research is central to development sociology's concern with the present neoliberal stage of capitalism and to numerous theoretical, substantive, and policy issues that revolve around poverty and prosperity within the nation. Yet the body of work faces a number of challenges. Research is fragmented and its potential for building broader development sociology overlooked. We provide a critical analysis of this research tradition focusing on its theoretical development and identifying a wave of shifts in economic structure and the state that require new engagement. Our analysis raises challenges for development sociology as a broader field of study. Profound state and market changes are unfolding within the United States but they remain under-theorized with implications for limiting progress in the field as a whole. We identify a series of questions that offer promising directions for future research.
New models of employment show that there are some cases in which a minimum wage can have positive effects on employment and social welfare. The effects depend ultimately on the prevailing market wage and the frictions in the market. Card and Krueger (Am. Econ. Rev. 90(5), 1397–1420 2000) for example, argue that raising minimum wages sometimes increases employment. Based on this finding, we propose in this paper, a new approach to measure an employment via a fuzzy poverty measure and a relative minimum wage. An application using individual well-being data from Tunisia households in 2010 is presented.
How do communities retain their highly educated residents? Do local retailers play a role? This study addresses these questions using confidential U.S. census data on locally-oriented retail employment and county-level public-use files. Hierarchical linear modeling is employed to test hypotheses derived from prior research on civic community and migration. The results confirm that state-level local retail employment buffers the extent to which county-level college graduation is associated with county nonmigration. This finding is consistent with civic community theory, suggesting that locally-oriented retailers are a valuable resource for promoting residential stability.
Using data from the Census of Agriculture and other secondary sources, we examine the relationship between scale of farm operations in a county and the well-being of local residents. Following earlier work by C. Wright Mills and Walter Goldschmidt, we hypothesize that in agriculture dependent counties that are dominated by a small handful of very large farms, the level of community welfare will be significantly lower than in counties in which agriculture is organized around smaller-scale farm operations. Findings show that scale of farm operations is related to well-being. However, this relationship is mediated by the level of civic engagement and the strength of the economically independent middle class. A theory of civic community is proposed to account for these findings.
Using a sample of 2,271 workers from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce whose employers offered personal health insurance, this article investigates the gendered nature of health insurance benefit take-ups. These analyses include family and employment characteristics in addition to employers' contributions to health insurance premiums, a measure that is unexamined in sociological analyses of health benefits. Progressive logistic regression models predict the effects of gender and family characteristics. Results indicate that women with employed spouses are less likely to take up their own health benefits than are comparable men, net of basic employment characteristics. Gender differences disappear, however, when controlling for the level of employer contributions: women and men are equally likely to draw on their own employer's health benefits once we account for their out-of-pocket expense. The authors conclude that family contexts and employment structures jointly influence individuals' choices about their health benefits. The gendered structure of employment and, specifically, gendered patterns in employer contributions to health benefits are a better explanation for women's lower chances of benefit take-ups than gender relations within families.
Notes the need for a measure of economic segmentation based on current empirical data for a range of theoretically relevant indicators. Drawing on a dual economy interpretation of the relationship between economic organization and labor market structure, identifies a set of empirical indicators which relate to the degree of oligopoly versus competition in industrial settings. Uses factor analysis to test the dual economists' expectation of a common dimension underlying indicators of economic concentration and scale and the characteristics of product and labor markets. After confirming this expectation, uses factor scores to define an index of segmentation for indistrial categories. Finally, demonstates the application of dichotomous and continuous segmentation measures to the analysis of a simple earnings determination model. -Authors
This paper evaluates local self-development strategies among nonmetropolitan communities. It analyzes the characteristics of these projects, their benefits and costs, and the obstacles facing self-development communities. Based on a survey of more than one hundred communities, it was found that most self-development projects in the 1980s were initiated because of the depressed rural economy. Self-development efforts do not appear to replace traditional rural economic development activities; instead, they appear to complement them. Self-development activities produce a wide variety of jobs that are taken primarily by local residents. Informants reported that the cost and availability of credit are major obstacles for self-development projects. In terms of benefits, local business/industrial development projects tend to produce the most jobs and to produce them at the least cost.
This analysis is designed to extend a newly emerging body of social stratification research grounded in theories of civil
society. The goal of this larger body of research and writing is to provide an alternative social and economic development
paradigm to the dominant neoclassical/rational choice/human capital perspective. In an economic world woven together by global
market forces, local social structures can become key variables that influence which places prosper and which decline. We
begin by hypothesizing that local capitalism and civic engagement variables are associated with positive socioeconomic outcomes
(higher income levels and lower levels of income inequality, poverty, and unemployment). To test these notions, we employ
data on more than 3,000 U.S. counties. Net of the substantial effects of the control variables, three measures of local civic
society —small manufacturing establishments, family farms, and civically engaged religious denominations — vary as hypothesized
in three of four models. The performance of these local capitalism and civic engagement variables suggests a robust association
with beneficial local socioeconomic outcomes. We conclude by outlining needed research on civil society that would contribute
further to a social development perspective.
this chapter, drawing from my experiences as a feminist social worker with women of color and from the empowerment literature, suggests one way in which feminist social work can be carried out with women of color
the psychology of empowerment / empowering methods (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We develop a preliminary version of an Integrated Longitudinal Business Database (ILBD) that combines administrative records and survey data for all employer and nonemployer business units in the United States. Unlike other large-scale business databases, the ILBD tracks business transitions from nonemployer to employer status. This feature of the ILBD opens a new frontier for the study of business formation, early lifecycle dynamics and the precursors to job creation in the U.S. economy. There are 5.4 million nonfarm business firms with employees as of 2000 and another 15.5 million with no employees. Our analysis focuses on 40 industries that account for nearly half of nonemployers and 36 percent of nonemployer revenues. Within these industries, nonemployers account for 14 percent of business revenues. About 220,000 of the seven million nonemployers in our selected industries hire workers and migrate to the employer universe over a three-year horizon. These Migrants account for 20 percent of revenue among young employers (three years or less since first hire). Compared to other nonemployers, the revenue of Migrants grows very rapidly in the year prior to and the year of transition to employer status.Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
Recent work challenges the notion that attracting creative workers to a place is sufficient for generating local economic growth. In this article, we examine the problem of sustaining robust growth in the periphery of the USA, demonstrating the contingent nature of talent as an engine for economic growth. We test the hypothesis that rural growth in the knowledge economy is dependent on the ability to utilize new knowledge, perhaps generated elsewhere, in addressing local economic challenges. Tests confirm that the interaction of entrepreneurial context with the share of the workforce employed in the creative class is strongly associated with growth in the number of new establishments and employment, particularly in those rural counties endowed with attractive outdoor amenities. Published by Oxford University Press 2010.
Prior research on mortality for U.S. blacks focuses on the detrimental effects of minority concentration and residential segregation in metropolitan areas on health outcomes. To date, few studies have examined this relationship outside of large U.S. central cities. In this paper, we extend current research on the minority concentration and mortality relationship to explain the rural advantage in mortality for nonmetropolitan blacks. Using data from the 1986–1994 linked National Health Interview Survey/National Death Index, we examine the rural-urban gap in mortality for U.S. blacks. Our findings indicate that blacks in nonmetropolitan areas experience a lower risk of mortality than metropolitan central city blacks after indicators of socio-economic and health status are controlled. Our findings also point to the importance of accounting for contextual factors. Net of individual level controls, minority concentration exerts differential effects across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas, such that nonmetropolitan black residents experience a lower risk of mortality in high minority concentration areas than blacks in metropolitan central city areas. This finding suggests a reconceptualization of the meaning for minority concentration with respect to studies of health outcomes in nonmetropolitan communities.
McGranahan D. and Wojan T. (2007) Recasting the creative class to examine growth processes in rural and urban counties, Regional Studies 41, 1–20. Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class (2002) makes a compelling argument that regional development now depends on novel combinations of knowledge and ideas, that certain occupations specialize in this task, that people in these occupations are drawn to areas providing a high quality of life, and thus the essential development strategy is to create an environment that attracts and retains these workers. The present analysis of recent rural development in rural US counties, which focuses on natural amenities as quality of life indicators, supports the creative class thesis. A repetition for urban counties also shows a strong relationship between creative class presence and growth, although natural amenities play a smaller role. However, the results depend on a recast creative class measure, which excludes from the original Florida measure many occupations with low creativity requirements and those involved primarily in economic reproduction. The measure conforms more closely to the concept of creative class and proves to be more highly associated with regional development than the original Florida measure.
Income inequality has generally been associated with differences in health. A psychosocial interpretation of health inequalities, in terms of perceptions of relative disadvantage and the psychological consequences of inequality raises several conceptual and empirical problems. Income inequality is accompanied by many differences in conditions of life at the individual and population levels, which may adversely influence health. Interpretation of links between income inequality and health must begin with the structural causes, of inequalities, and not just locus on perceptions of that inequality. Reducing health inequalities and improving public health in the 21st century requires strategic investment in neo-material conditions via more equitable distribution of public and private resources.
Purpose:
To determine the relationship between urban sprawl, health, and health-related behaviors.
Design:
Cross-sectional analysis using hierarchical modeling to relate characteristics of individuals and places to levels of physical activity, obesity, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease.
Setting:
U.S. counties (448) and metropolitan areas (83).
Subjects:
Adults (n = 206,992) from pooled 1998, 1999, and 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
Measures:
Sprawl indices, derived with principal components analysis from census and other data, served as independent variables. Self-reported behavior and health status from BRFSS served as dependent variables.
Results:
After controlling for demographic and behavioral covariates, the county sprawl index had small but significant associations with minutes walked (p = .004), obesity (p < .001), BMI (p = .005), and hypertension (p = .018). Residents of sprawling counties were likely to walk less during leisure time, weigh more, and have greater prevalence of hypertension than residents of compact counties. At the metropolitan level, sprawl was similarly associated with minutes walked (p = .04) but not with the other variables.
Conclusion:
This ecologic study reveals that urban form could be significantly associated with some forms of physical activity and some health outcomes. More research is needed to refine measures of urban form, improve measures of physical activity, and control for other individual and environmental influences on physical activity, obesity, and related health outcomes.
Using cross-sectional data from the Contingent Work Survey of the February 1995 Current Population Survey, we present direct evidence that there are substantial gender differences in the reasons why individuals become self-employed. In particular, women - especially women with young children - are more likely than men to cite flexibility of schedule and family-related reasons for becoming self-employed. Men's reasons for becoming self-employed show little association with their parental status. Our findings suggest that employers should be encouraged to offer working conditions that are more friendly to workers whose family obligations conflict with traditional, forty-hour-per-week jobs.
Researchers have long known that large firms pay higher wages than small firms for workers with similar measured characteristics; however, an agreed-upon explanation for this firm size wage effect (FSWE) has not been reached. Recent changes in the economy provide new leverage for testing competing theories for the effect, while questions about the existence and nature of the “New Economy” provide new motivation for exploring this topic. This study uses the 1988-2003 Current Population Survey and finds that the FSWE has declined by about one third over the study period. Examining the competing explanations for the FSWE, this study finds that while the sorting of workers by traits, unions, and industry factors all contribute to some portion of the effect in cross-section, they fail to explain why it has declined over time. Market power explanations also fail to find support. Shifts in organizational structures, particularly a decline of internal labor markets, appear to best fit the results. These findings provide supporting evidence for the “New Economy” and the idea that recent decades have brought about significant changes within organizations and in employment opportunities.
Since 1997, the number of American families filing for federal bankruptcy annually has exceeded one million. By most measures, those who file are members of the middle class - a group that has long provided stability and vitality for the American economic system. This raises the troubling question: why, during the most remarkable period of prosperity in our history, are unprecedented numbers of Americans encountering such serious financial trouble? The authors of this important book analyse court records and demographic data on thousands of bankruptcy cases, as well as debtors' own poignant accounts of the reasons for their bankruptcies. For many middle-class Americans, the findings show, financial stability is fragile - almost any setback can be disastrous. The erosion of job stability, divorce and family instability, the visible and invisible costs of medical care, the burden of home ownership, and the staggering weight of consumer debt financed with plastic combine to threaten the financial security of growing numbers of middle-class families. The authors view the bankruptcy process in the light of changing cultural and economic factors and consider what this may signify for the future of a large, secure, and dynamic middle class.
Corporate gifts to nonprofit organizations are determined by both market and institutional factors. Among the leading market factors are a firm's pre-tax earnings, advertising and customer relations, and community and national reputation. Among the main institutional factors are a company's size, program professionalization, senior management commitment, local and national business attitudes toward giving, sectoral concentration, and company reorganization. The blend of factors in corporate giving suggests that appeals—whether from an outside group to a company or from a contributions manager to a chief executive—must be responsive to both market and institutional concerns.
Studies on the health effects of income inequality have generated great interest. The evidence on this association between countries is mixed,1-4 but income inequality and health have been linked within the United States,5-11 Britain,12 and Brazil.13 Questions remain over how to interpret these findings and the mechanisms involved. We discuss three interpretations of the association between income inequality and health: the individual income interpretation, the psychosocial environment interpretation, and the neo-material interpretation. Summary points Income inequality has generally been associated with differences in health A psychosocial interpretation of health inequalities, in terms of perceptions of relative disadvantage and the psychological consequences of inequality, raises several conceptual and empirical problems Income inequality is accompanied by many differences in conditions of life at the individual and population levels, which may adversely influence health Interpretation of links between income inequality and health must begin with the structural causes of inequalities, and not just focus on perceptions of that inequality Reducing health inequalities and improving public health in the 21st century requires strategic investment in neo-material conditions via more equitable distribution of public and private resources
We propose a theoretical framework on the structural sources and spatially embedded nature of three mechanisms that produce collective efficacy for children. Using survey data collected in 1995 from 8,782 Chicago residents, we examine variations in intergenerational closure, reciprocal local exchange, and shared expectations for informal social control across 342 neighborhoods. Adjusting for respondents' attributes, we assess the effects of neighborhood characteristics measured in the 1990 census and the role of spatial interdependence. The results show that residential stability and concentrated affluence, more so than poverty and racial/ethnic composition, predict intergenerational closure and reciprocal exchange. Concentrated disadvantage, by contrast, is associated with sharply lower expectations for shared child control. The importance of spatial dynamics in generating collective efficacy for children is highlighted-proximity to areas high in closure, exchange, and control bestows an advantage above and beyond the structural characteristics of a given neighborhood. Moreover, spatial advantages are much more likely to accrue to white neighborhoods than to black neighborhoods.
Building on previous demonstrations of a linkage between organizational size and individual outcomes, this paper employs a matched employer-employee data set to investigate that relationship. Some portion of the size effect on worker earnings is found to be indirect, as many have assumed, derived either through the organizational consequences of size or the industrial/market consequences of scale. However, the effect is not straightforward. It varies by group (gender, occupation, and industry), is differentially mediated by internal labor markets, literacy requirements, and unionization, differs according to whether firms are single- or multi-establishment, and for individuals as to whether firm size or establishment size is most salient to their earnings. For white-collar workers, firm size is most important, but not primarily due to organizational aspects of size. For blue-collar workers, establishment size is most important, largely due to the organizational concomitants of size. Female clerical workers are found to be a special case, and clear gender differences exist in the effect of size.
Do employees in large organizations receive different economic and noneconomic job rewards than do employees in small organizations? If so, what explains the relationship between organization size and job rewards? We examine these questions using a recent nationally representative data set that provides information on organizations and their employees in the United States. We find that employees in large organizations have higher earnings, more fringe benefits and opportunities for promotion, but less autonomy on the job than do workers employed by small organizations. Our theoretical framework identifies several possible reasons for the relationship between organization size and job rewards, including industrial, geographic, organizational, and individual variables. Whether a firm has internal labor markets is the correlate of organization size most consistently related to job rewards.
The influence of economic conditions on mortality has been recognized at least since biblical times. Empiricism of the most casual sort was sufficient to establish the link between food supply and mortality. Other components of living standards, such as shelter and living space, awaited a revolution in scientific method before their influence was finally acknowledged. But recent years have witnessed a movement away from economic determinism in mortality analysis. It is widely believed that mortality has become increasingly dissociated from economic level because of a diffusion of medical and health technologies, facilities and personnel that occurred, in large part, independently of economic level, yet this position has its critics who have gained a sympathetic audience. This paper utilizes readily available evidence in a new but obvious way to estimate the relative contribution of economic factors to increase in life expectancy during the twentieth century. The evidence consists of cross sectional relationships between national life expectancies and national income per head evaluated during 3 different decades of the twentieth century. These relationships are further used to assess the realism of certain economic demographic models and to re-examine what have become classical distinctions regarding sources of mortality declines in Western and non Western areas. (42 references.)
Over the past two decades, urban and regional policy-makers have increasingly looked to the arts and culture as an economic panacea, especially for the older urban core. The arts' regional economic contribution is generally measured by totalling the revenue of larger arts organisations, associated expenditures by patrons and multiplier effects. This approach underestimates the contributions of creative artists to a regional economy, because of high rates of self-employment and direct export activity, because artists' work enhances the design, production and marketing of products and services in other sectors and because artists induce innovation on the part of suppliers. Artists create import-substituting entertainment options for regional consumers and spend large shares of their own incomes on local arts output. The paper takes a labour-centred view of the arts economy, hypothesising that many artists choose a locale in which to work, often without regard to particular employers but in response to a nurturing artistic and patron community, amenities and affordable cost of living. Because evidence on such economic impacts and location calculus is impossible to document directly, the distribution of artists across the largest US metropolitan areas is used as a proxy, using data from the PUMS for 1980, 1990 and 2000. It is found that artists sort themselves out among American cities in irregular fashion, not closely related to either size or growth rates. The paper further explores variations in the definition of artist, the relationship between artistic occupation and industry, and differentials in artists' self-employment rates and earnings across cities. It is concluded that artists comprise a relatively footloose group that can serve as a target of regional and local economic development policy; the components of such a policy are outlined.
In this paper we test the hypothesis that local economic concentration is associated with decreased levels of civic participation.
We define economic concentration as a social context in which a small number of corporate establishments or industries dominate
a local economy. We argue that economic concentration leads to a monolithic power structure and generates civic apathy because
the needs of the corporation override those of the local population. To test this hypothesis, we employ combined data from
the 2000 Social Capital Benchmark Survey and the County Business Patterns. Our findings indicate that local economic concentration
is negatively associated with traditional electoral participation and protest activities. We conclude by discussing implications
for current theoretical work on civic community, embedded within the empirical decline in U.S. civic engagement over the past
three decades.
The states have taken an increasingly active role in economic development policy during the past two decades. This article presents both a comprehensive overview of the state strategies and a statistical overview of the changing economic conditions from which they arise. The strategies can be grouped into three distinct orientations. Chasing and acquisition focuses on bringing into the state businesses, export orders, federal facilities and contracts, tourists, retirees, and other external sources of growth. Self-improvement focuses on helping businesses and people in the state become more competitive by improving education systems, stimulating research, helping firms adopt new technologies, providing venture capital, and improving roads, communications, and other infrastructure. Knowledge and process focuses on doing those things better by making greater use of markets and business practices.
This article examines the impact of black political gains on black and white postneonatal mortality. Two dimensions of black political empowerment are examined, absolute political power and relative political power. The analysis examines all U.S. central cities with a population of at least 50,000 residents, 10% of whom are black. Absolute black political power did not influence postneonatal mortality for blacks or whites. However, there is a negative association between relative black political power and the black postneonatal mortality rate. Black political power had no significant effect on white postneonatal mortality. The implications of these findings for medical sociology theory are discussed.
There is an increasing understanding about the importance of social networks in the overall health of individuals. In the past year studies have found that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age; having obese friends increases the risk for obesity; and older people with many friends outlive those with fewer friends. This manuscript describes capacity-building interventions based on social capital, including empowerment, community youth development and collective effi cacy models, which can work at the individual and community level in preventive and treatment-based interventions. These interven-tions allow public health practitioners working with low-income communities to reduce health disparities, promote well-being, and decrease inequalities.
ABSTRACT Using cross-sectional data from the Contingent Work Survey of the February 1995 Current Population Survey, we present direct evidence that there are substantial gender differences in the reasons why individuals become self-employed. In particular, women–especially women with young children–are more likely than men to cite flexibility of schedule and family-related reasons for becoming self-employed. Men's reasons for becoming self-employed show little association with their parental status. Our findings suggest that employers should be encouraged to offer working conditions that are more friendly to workers whose family obligations conflict with traditional, forty-hour-per-week jobs.
Abstract Despite lower average incomes, greater percentages living in poverty, lower levels of health insurance, less preventive health care, and poorer health status, nonmetropolitan residents have been found to experience lower mortality than their metropolitan counterparts. Several pathways through which residence influences mortality have been proposed. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of income inequality on residential differentials in mortality. Using data from the Compressed Mortality File for counties in the coterminous United States for 1990, we estimate weighted least squares models of total mortality for 3,067 counties, and separately for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. Mortality is lower in nonmetropolitan counties than in metropolitan counties, once rates are standardized for age, sex, and race. Moreover, income inequality exerts stronger effects in nonmetro counties, an effect that persists when per capita income, median household size, and racial composition are controlled. The percentage of the population that is black exerts an independent effect on mortality in both metro and non-metro counties.
Entrepreneurship has great potential as a self-development strategy for rural communities with declining economies, but nascent entrepreneurs often lack the knowledge necessary for starting a business and their com-munities often lack the physical and social infrastructure to support them. The EDGE (Enhancing, Developing, and Growing Entrepreneurs) educational programme developed by the Center for Applied Rural Innovation, University of Nebraska, is a community-based development programme that builds community capacity while providing grounded skills for entrepreneurs. This paper discusses the theoretical basis of EDGE and outlines an action model that has general relevance for the implementation of community development programmes.
Are gender differences in the effects of family structure on self-employment participation robust across different forms of
self-employment? Using event history analyses of competing risks and data spanning 20 years, I find that women enter non-professional
and non-managerial self-employment to balance work and family demands. In contrast, family factors do little to explain women's
entrance into professional and managerial self-employment; these women are more similar to their male peers and appear to
follow a careerist model of self-employment.
Taken together, the thirteen chapters of thisbook shed light on the factors leading individuals into self-employment.The volume examines the impact of economic change on the character,composition, and stability of self-employment.A theoretical framework fora cross-national study of self-employment dynamics is presented, as is a reviewof the changing employment structures and the opportunities and constraintsassociated with self-employment. (SAA) Table of Contents Trends in Self-Employment in Germany: Different Types, DifferentDevelopments? Henning Lohmann and Silvia Luber Entries and Exits from Self-Employment in France over the Last Twenty Years,Thomas Amossé and Dominique Goux Dutch Self-Employment between 1980 and 1997, Boris F. Blumberg and PaulM. de Graaf Self-Employment in the United Kingdom during the 1980s and 1990s, NigelMeager and Peter Bates Entrepreneurs and Laborers: Two Sides of Self-Employment Activity in theUnited States, Richard Arum Self-Employment in Australia, 1980-1999, M.D.R. Evans and JoannaSikora Winners or Losers? Entry and Exit into Self-Employment in Hungary: 1980s and1990s, Péter Róbert and Erzsébet Bukodi Three Forms of Emergent Self-Employment in Post-Soviet Russia: Entry andExit Patterns by Gender, Theodore P. Gerber Self-Employment in Italy: Scaling the Class Barriers, Paolo Barbieri andIvano Bison Entry into and Exit from Self-Employment in Japan, Hiroshi Ishida On One's Own: Self-Employment Activity in Taiwan, Wei-hsin Yu andKuo-Hsien Su The Reemergence of Self-Employment: Comparative Findings and EmpiricalPropositions, Richard Arum and Walter Müller
ABSTRACT This paper explores a topic of much speculation but relatively little empirical investigation: How those in charge of recruiting and hiring new employees assess the advantages and disadvantages of various recruiting techniques. We also examine how organizational characteristics shape hiring managers’perceptions of the primary advantages and disadvantages of recruiting techniques. A sample of hiring managers in a major metropolitan labor market identified the primary advantage of informal recruiting to be the quality of applicants and of formal recruiting to be the volume of applicants. Our analysis also shows that hiring managers in smaller firms and in the private sector more often cite quality as an advantage of informal recruiting, while hiring managers in the public sector more often identify volume of applicants as an advantage of formal recruiting.
A growing literature points to links between income inequality and mortality. Any examination of the link should distinguish, both theoretically and empirically, between shifts in inequality that result from changes in the bottom and top of the income distribution. When state-level data from the U.S. censuses of 1980 and 1990 were used to measure differences in mortality, the results indicated that inequality measures reflecting depth of poverty show stronger correlations with mortality than do inequality measures reflecting heights of affluence. In addition, longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics were used to relate state-level inequality measures to individual-level data on mortality. This comparison revealed significant associations between degree of income inequality in state of residence and individual risk of death only for nonelderly individuals with middle-class incomes in 1990.
We examine the relationship between employer size and the provision of fringe benefits in a large sample of rural businesses. A clear employer size-benefits relationship exists only in the case of health insurance, while other benefits are not strongly linked to employer size. The negative relationship between employer size and health insurance is weaker, though still existent, in businesses whose employees have relatively high skill levels. Single, independent establishments and sole proprietorships are less likely to provide fringe benefits than multi-establishment and corporate firms. Copyright 1998, Oxford University Press.
We propose a theoretical framework on the structural sources and spatially embedded nature of three mechanisms that produce collective efficacy for children. Using survey data collected in 1995 from 8,782 Chicago residents, we examine variations in intergenerational closure, reciprocal local exchange, and shared expectations for informal social control across 342 neighborhoods. Adjusting for respondents' attributes, we assess the effects of neighborhood characteristics measured in the 1990 census and the role of spatial interdependence. The results show that residential stability and concentrated affluence, more so than poverty and racial/ethnic composition, predict intergenerational closure and reciprocal exchange. Concentrated disadvantage, by contrast, is associated with sharply lower expectations for shared child control. The importance of spatial dynamics in generating collective efficacy for children is highlighted-proximity to areas high in closure, exchange, and control bestows an advantage above and beyond the structural characteristics of a given neighborhood. Moreover, spatial advantages are much more likely to accrue to white neighborhoods than to black neighborhoods.
The offspring of self-employed fathers are more likely than others to become self-employed. Thus the historically low rates of self-employment among African-Americans and Latinos may contribute to their low contemporary rates. National data show that African-Americans and Latinos whose fathers were self-employed have lower rates of self-employment than other men whose fathers were not self-employed. Other aspects of family background explain only a small portion of the self-employment gap between African-Americans and native-born white ancestry groups. Male immigrants who have self-employed fathers overseas are no more likely to be self-employed than other immigrants are.
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55304/1/Lynch JW, Is Income Inequality a Determinant of Population Health, 2004.pdf
We use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys to investigate the relative importance of family financial and human capital in the transition into self-employment. Specifically, we estimate the impacts of individual's own wealth and human capital and parental wealth and self-employment experience on the probability that an individual transits from wage-and-salary to self-employment. We find young men's own financial assets exert a statistically significant but quantitatively modest effect on the transition. In contrast, the parents' capital exerts a large influence. Parents' strongest effect runs, not through financial means, but rather through their own self-employment experience and business success. Copyright 2000 by University of Chicago Press.
One of the most fundamental rights, the right to breathe air free of unhealthy carcinogens, is continuously threatened by powerful corporate tobacco interests, which spend enormous amounts of money not only to promote smoking, but also to stifle local, state, and national efforts to control smoking in the United States. From the perspective of a "committed participant" this paper discusses recent difficulties encountered in attempting to introduce West Virginia's first comprehensive smoking control legislation, and the strategies used to overcome them. The primary message reported here is that, given the overwhelming financial, emotional, and human-potential costs involved in ongoing tobacco abuse in the United States, it is essential that citizens unite to protect the health of all children and the vast majority of adults who do not smoke, and to discourage the consumption of cigarettes, the single biggest cause of disease and death in our society. The example reported here from West Virginia demonstrates that persistent citizen activism can make a critical difference in promoting laws that protect human health from unhealthy environmental tobacco smoke.
It is hypothesized that collective efficacy, defined as social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to
intervene on behalf of the common good, is linked to reduced violence. This hypothesis was tested on a 1995 survey of 8782
residents of 343 neighborhoods in Chicago, Illinois. Multilevel analyses showed that a measure of collective efficacy yields
a high between-neighborhood reliability and is negatively associated with variations in violence, when individual-level characteristics,
measurement error, and prior violence are controlled. Associations of concentrated disadvantage and residential instability
with violence are largely mediated by collective efficacy.
Interest in social capital and health has emerged at an exciting time. In public health, there is a renewed interest in mechanisms that link social inequalities and health. In epidemiology, there has been a critical interrogation of methods and a call for a more explicit use of theory. In health promotion over the last 20-30 years, social health interventions have been somewhat marginalised in an era dominated by interest in traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Now that social hypotheses are being reborn in health, there is a risk that the sophistication that has developed in social health promotion and the literatures that have informed it could be overlooked. In this paper, we present a brief history of social capital and how it has come into recent prominence through the debate linking income inequality and health. We present the background to this, the earlier literatures on social environmental influences on health and the possible processes thought to underlie this relationship. Social capital has relational, material and political aspects. We suggest that, although the relational properties of social capital are important (eg, trust, networks), the political aspects of social capital are perhaps under recognised. The paper also reviews how complex social processes at the community level have come to be operationalised by social theorists and intervention agents in other fields. We suggest that social capital research so far has inadequately captured the underlying constructs, in particular the qualitative difference between the macro/context level and the micro/individual level. While being cautious about the science, we conclude that social capital's power as rhetoric and as a metaphor may be of value. We conclude by suggesting that the coalescence of interests in context-level influences on health now invites a revitalisation of theories and interventions inspired by diverse fields, such as geography and ecological community psychology.