Report: Rural Economies As Dynamic As Suburban & Urban Areas
American rural economies are as dynamic as their suburban and urban counterparts are, finds a working paper released today by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Southern Regional Advocate Pat Gartland discussed the paper’s findings at a meeting of the Thomasville, Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
“America has an entrepreneurial culture and entrepreneurs are found in every
setting. The lesson learned here is that rural America’s resilience should not
be underestimated,” said Larry Plummer, assistant professor at Clemson
University and co-author of the paper.
The authors’ central finding is that the differences in the rate of establishment
births and closures between rural, suburban, and urban areas, while
statistically significant, is in fact quite small. That is, general business
dynamics are not a function of geographic area. The authors do suggest that
further research may show that the dynamics of specific industries are shaped
by geography.
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