Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Foundation Website
  • Journal Home
  • Issues
    • Current Issue
    • All Issues
    • Future Issues
  • For Authors and Editors
    • Overview of RSF & How to Propose an Issue
    • RSF Style and Submission Guidelines
    • Article Submission Checklist
    • Permission Request
    • Terms of Contributor Agreement Form and Transfer of Copyright
    • RSF Contributor Agreement Form
    • Issue Editors' Agreement Form
  • About the Journal
    • Mission Statement
    • Editorial Board
    • Comments and Replies Policy
    • Journal Code of Ethics
    • Current Calls for Articles
    • Closed Calls for Articles
    • Abstracting and Indexing
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright and ISSN Information
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Publications
    • rsf

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
  • Publications
    • rsf
  • Log in
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

Advanced Search

  • Foundation Website
  • Journal Home
  • Issues
    • Current Issue
    • All Issues
    • Future Issues
  • For Authors and Editors
    • Overview of RSF & How to Propose an Issue
    • RSF Style and Submission Guidelines
    • Article Submission Checklist
    • Permission Request
    • Terms of Contributor Agreement Form and Transfer of Copyright
    • RSF Contributor Agreement Form
    • Issue Editors' Agreement Form
  • About the Journal
    • Mission Statement
    • Editorial Board
    • Comments and Replies Policy
    • Journal Code of Ethics
    • Current Calls for Articles
    • Closed Calls for Articles
    • Abstracting and Indexing
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright and ISSN Information
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Follow rsf on Twitter
  • Visit rsf on Facebook
  • Follow rsf on Google Plus
Research Article
Open Access

Do Federal Place-Based Policies Improve Economic Opportunity in Rural Communities?

Emily Parker, Laura Tach, Cassandra Robertson
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences May 2022, 8 (4) 125-154; DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.4.06
Emily Parker
aPostdoctoral fellow with the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan, United States
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Emily Parker
Laura Tach
bAssociate professor of sociology and public policy at Cornell University, United States
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Cassandra Robertson
cSenior policy and research manager at New America, United States
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

REFERENCES

  1. ↵
    1. Alderman, Derek H., and
    2. Robert N. Brown
    . 2011. “When a New Deal Is Actually an Old Deal: The Role of TVA in Engineering a Jim Crow Racialized Landscape.” In Engineering Earth: The Impacts of Megaengineering Projects, edited by Stanley D. Brunn. New York: Springer.
  2. ↵
    1. Alvarado, Steven
    . 2016. “Delayed Disadvantage: Neighborhood Context and Child Development.” Social Forces 94(4): 1847–77. DOI: 10.1093/sf/sow020.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  3. ↵
    1. Austin, Benjamin,
    2. Lawrence Summers, and
    3. Edward Glaeser
    . 2018. Saving the Heartland: Place-Based Policies in 21st Century America. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
  4. ↵
    1. Baldwin, Sidney
    . 2018. Poverty and Politics: The Rise and Decline of the Farm Security Administration. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  5. ↵
    1. Billings, Dwight B
    . 1979. Planters and the Making of a “New South”: Class, Politics, and Development in North Carolina, 1865–1900. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  6. ↵
    1. Braga, Anthony A.,
    2. David M. Kennedy,
    3. Elin J. Waring, and
    4. Anne Morrison Piehl
    . 2001. “Problem-Oriented Policing, Deterrence, and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of Boston’s Operation Ceasefire.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 38(3): 195–225. DOI: 10.1177/0022427801038003001.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  7. ↵
    1. Breathitt, Edward T
    . 1967. The People Left Behind: A Report by the President’s National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty. Washington, D.C.: National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty.
  8. ↵
    1. Brenner, Neil,
    2. Peter Marcuse, and
    3. Margit Mayer
    . 2012. Cities for People, Not for Profit: Critical Urban Theory and the Right to the City. New York: Routledge.
  9. ↵
    1. Bullard, Robert D
    . 2008. Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.
  10. ↵
    1. Busso, Matias,
    2. Jesse Gregory, and
    3. Patrick Kline
    . 2013. “Assessing the Incidence and Efficiency of a Prominent Place Based Policy.” American Economic Review 103(2): 897–947. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.2.897.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  11. ↵
    1. Chetty, Raj,
    2. Nathaniel Hendren, and
    3. Lawrence F. Katz
    . 2016. “The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment.” American Economic Review 106(4): 855–902. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20150572.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  12. ↵
    1. Chetty, Raj,
    2. Nathaniel Hendren,
    3. Patrick Kline, and
    4. Emmanuel Saez
    . 2014. “Where Is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 129(4): 1553–1623. DOI: 10.1093/qje/qju022.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  13. ↵
    1. Cho, Clare
    . 2019. “The Effect of Place Based Policies on Rural Communities: An Evaluation of Rural Empowerment Zones.” Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 49(1): 49–64.
    OpenUrl
  14. ↵
    1. Cisneros, Henry G., and
    2. Lora Engdahl
    . 2010. From Despair to Hope: Hope VI and the New Promise of Public Housing in America’s Cities. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
  15. ↵
    1. Cook, Christine C.,
    2. Sue R. Crull,
    3. Marilyn J. Bruin,
    4. Becky L. Yust,
    5. Mack C. Shelley,
    6. Sharon Laux,
    7. Jean Memken,
    8. Shirley Niemeyer, and
    9. B. J. White
    . 2009. “Evidence of a Housing Decision Chain in Rural Community Vitality.” Rural Sociology 74(1): 113–37. DOI: 10.1526/003601109787524124.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  16. ↵
    1. Crump, Jeff
    . 2002. “Deconcentration by Demolition: Public Housing, Poverty, and Urban Policy.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 20(5): 581–96. DOI: 10.1068/d306.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  17. ↵
    1. Dewees, Sarah,
    2. Linda Lobao, and
    3. Louis E. Swanson
    . 2003. “Local Economic Development in an Age of Devolution: The Question of Rural Localities.” Rural Sociology 68(2): 182–206. DOI: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.2003.tb00134.x.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  18. ↵
    1. Domina, Thurston
    . 2006. “What Clean Break? Education and Nonmetropolitan Migration Patterns, 1989–2004.” Rural Sociology 71(3): 373–98. DOI: 10.1526/003601106778070626.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  19. ↵
    1. DuBois, W. E. B
    . 1912. “The Rural South.” Publications of the American Statistical Association 13(97): 80–84. DOI: 10.2307/2965052.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  20. ↵
    1. Duncan, Cynthia M
    . 1996. “Understanding Persistent Poverty: Social Class Context in Rural Communities.” Rural Sociology 61(1): 103–24. DOI: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.1996.tb00612.x.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  21. ↵
    1. Economic Research Service
    . 2021. “Rural Poverty and Well-Being.” Washington: U.S. Department of Agriculture. Accessed November 12, 2021. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/rural-economy-population/rural-poverty-well-being.
  22. ↵
    1. Estrada, Joselito K., and
    2. Albert J. Allen
    . 2004. “An Assessment of the Impact of the Rural Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community Program on Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.” Technical Report. Presented at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, Tulsa, Oklahoma (February 14–18, 2004).
  23. ↵
    1. Fischer, Claude S., and
    2. Greggor Mattson
    . 2009. “Is America Fragmenting?” Annual Review of Sociology 35(1): 435–55. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-070308–115909.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  24. ↵
    1. Foulkes, Matt, and
    2. Kai A. Schafft
    . 2010. “The Impact of Migration on Poverty Concentrations in the United States, 1995–2000.” Rural Sociology 75(1): 90–110. DOI: 10.1111/j.1549–0831.2009.00002.x.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  25. ↵
    1. Francis, Robert D
    . 2022. “Movin’ On Up? The Role of Growing Up Rural in Shaping Why Working-Class Men Do—and Don’t—Seek to Improve Their Labor-Market Prospects.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(4): 68–86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.4.03.
    OpenUrl
  26. ↵
    1. Freedman, Matthew
    . 2012. “Teaching New Markets Old Tricks: The Effects of Subsidized Investment on Low-Income Neighborhoods.” Journal of Public Economics 96(11): 1000–14. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2012.07.006.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  27. ↵
    1. Freeman, Lance
    . 2005. “Displacement or Succession? Residential Mobility in Gentrifying Neighborhoods.” Urban Affairs Review 40(4): 463–91. DOI: 10.1177/1078087404273341.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  28. ↵
    1. Glaeser, Edward L
    . 2012. “The Challenge of Urban Policy.” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 31(1): 111–22. DOI: 10.1002/pam.20631.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  29. ↵
    1. Glaeser, Edward L., and
    2. Joshua D. Gottlieb
    . 2008. “The Economics of Place-Making Policies.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 39 (Spring): 155–253.
    OpenUrl
  30. ↵
    1. Hall, Robert, and
    2. Carol Stack
    . 1982. Holding on to the Land and the Lord: Kinship, Ritual, Land Tenure, and Social Policy in the Rural South. Athens: University of Georgia Press.
  31. ↵
    1. Johnson, Kenneth M., and
    2. Daniel T. Lichter
    . 2019. “Rural Depopulation: Growth and Decline Processes over the Past Century.” Rural Sociology 84(1): 3–27. DOI: 10.1111/ruso.12266.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  32. ↵
    1. Johnson, Kenneth M., and
    2. Daniel T. Lichter
    . 2020. “Metropolitan Reclassification and the Urbanization of Rural America.” Demography 57 (August): 1929–50. DOI: 10.1007/s13524-020-00912-5.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  33. ↵
    1. Kefalas, Maria, and
    2. Patrick Carr
    . 2009. Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.
  34. ↵
    1. Kline, Patrick, and
    2. Enrico Moretti
    . 2014. “People, Places, and Public Policy: Some Simple Welfare Economics of Local Economic Development Programs.” Annual Review of Economics 6(1): 629–62. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-economics-080213-041024.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  35. ↵
    1. Krause, Eleanor, and
    2. Richard V. Reeves
    . 2017. Rural Dreams: Upward Mobility in America’s Countryside. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
  36. ↵
    1. Lichter, Daniel T., and
    2. David L. Brown
    . 2011. “Rural America in an Urban Society: Changing Spatial and Social Boundaries.” Annual Review of Sociology 37(1): 565–92. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-081309-150208.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  37. ↵
    1. Lichter, Daniel T., and
    2. Kenneth M. Johnson
    . 2007. “The Changing Spatial Concentration of America’s Rural Poor Population.” Rural Sociology 72(3): 331–58. DOI: 10.1526/003601107781799290.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  38. ↵
    1. Logan, John,
    2. Zengwang Xu, and
    3. Brian Stultz
    . 2014. “Interpolating US Decennial Census Tract Data from as Early as 1970 to 2010: A Longitudinal Tract Database.” Professional Geographer 66(3): 412–20.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMedWeb of Science
  39. ↵
    1. Marcuse, Peter
    . 1985. “Gentrification, Abandonment, and Displacement: Connections, Causes, and Policy Responses in New York City.” Washington University Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law 28(1): 195–240.
    OpenUrl
  40. ↵
    1. Massey, Douglas S., and
    2. Nancy A. Denton
    . 1993. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
  41. ↵
    1. Neumark, David, and
    2. Helen Simpson
    . 2015. “Place-Based Policies.” In Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, vol. 5, edited by Gilles Duranton, J. Vernon Henderson, and William C. Strange. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier.
  42. ↵
    1. Niccolai, Ashley R.,
    2. Sarah Damaske, and
    3. Jason Park
    . 2022. “We Won’t Be Able to Find Jobs Here: How Growing Up in Rural America Shapes Decisions About Work.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(4): 87–104. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.4.04.
    OpenUrl
  43. ↵
    1. Orszag, Peter R.,
    2. Melody Barnes,
    3. Adolfo Carrion, and
    4. Lawrence Summers
    . 2009. “Developing Effective Place-Based Policies for the FY 2011 Budget.” Memorandum M-09-28. Washington, D.C.: The White House. Accessed November 12, 2021. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-28.pdf.
  44. ↵
    1. Parsons, Ryan
    . 2022. “Moving Out to Move Up: Higher Education as a Mobility Pathway in the Rural South.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(3): 208–29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.3.09.
    OpenUrl
  45. ↵
    1. Partridge, Mark D., and
    2. Dan S. Rickman
    . 2008. “Place-Based Policy and Rural Poverty: Insights from the Urban Spatial Mismatch Literature.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society 1(1): 131–56. DOI: 10.1093/cjres/rsm005.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  46. ↵
    1. Reynolds, C. Lockwood, and
    2. Shawn M. Rohlin
    . 2015. “The Effects of Location-Based Tax Policies on the Distribution of Household Income: Evidence from the Federal Empowerment Zone Program.” Journal of Urban Economics 88(1): 1–15. DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2015.04.003.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  47. ↵
    1. Rothstein, Richard
    . 2017. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. New York: Liveright Publishing.
  48. ↵
    1. Scally, Corianne, and
    2. Lily Posey
    . 2017. “Place-Based Initiatives and Economic Mobility in Rural Areas: US Partnership on Mobility from Poverty.” Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.
  49. ↵
    1. Shambaugh, Jay, and
    2. Ryan Nunn
    . 2018. Place-Based Policies for Shared Economic Growth. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.
  50. ↵
    1. Sharkey, Patrick, and
    2. Jacob W. Faber
    . 2014. “Where, When, Why, and For Whom Do Residential Contexts Matter? Moving Away from the Dichotomous Understanding of Neighborhood Effects.” Annual Review of Sociology 40(1): 559–79. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-soc-071913–043350.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  51. ↵
    1. Sherman, Jennifer, and
    2. Kai A. Schafft
    . 2022. “‘Turning Their Back on Kids’: Inclusions, Exclusions, and the Contradictions of Schooling in Gentrifying Rural Communities.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 8(3): 150–70. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.3.06.
    OpenUrl
  52. ↵
    1. Squires, Gregory D
    . 2011. From Redlining to Reinvestment: Community Responses to Urban Disinvestment. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press.
  53. ↵
    1. Swanson, Louis E
    . 2001. “Rural Policy and Direct Local Participation: Democracy, Inclusiveness, Collective Agency, and Locality-Based Policy.” Rural Sociology 66(1): 1–21. DOI: 10.1111/j.1549-0831.2001.tb00052.x.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  54. ↵
    1. Tach, Laura,
    2. Alexandra C. Cooperstock,
    3. Samuel Dodini, and
    4. Emily Parker
    . 2019. “The Place-Based Turn in Federal Policymaking, 1990–2015.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Austin, TX, April 10–13. http://paa2019.populationassociation.org/uploads/192108.
  55. ↵
    1. Tach, Laura, and
    2. Allison Dwyer Emory
    . 2017. “Public Housing Redevelopment, Neighborhood Change, and the Restructuring of Urban Inequality.” American Journal of Sociology 123(3): 686–739. DOI: 10.1086/695468.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  56. ↵
    1. Thiede, Brian C.,
    2. Daniel T. Lichter, and
    3. Tim Slack
    . 2018. “Working, but Poor: The Good Life in Rural America?” Journal of Rural Studies 59(April): 183–93. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.02.007.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  57. ↵
    1. Tickamyer, Ann R., and
    2. Cynthia M. Duncan
    . 1990. “Poverty and Opportunity Structure in Rural America.” Annual Review of Sociology 16(1): 67–86.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  58. ↵
    1. Weber, Bruce A
    . 2007. “Rural Poverty: Why Should States Care and What Can State Policy Do?” Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 37(1): 1–15. DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.132980.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  59. ↵
    1. Weber, Bruce,
    2. J. Matthew Fannin,
    3. Kathleen Miller, and
    4. Stephan Goetz
    . 2018. “Intergenerational Mobility of Low-Income Youth in Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan America: A Spatial Analysis.” Regional Science Policy & Practice 10(2): 87–101. DOI: 10.1111/rsp3.12122.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  60. ↵
    1. Weber, Bruce,
    2. Alexander Marré,
    3. Monica Fisher,
    4. Robert Gibbs, and
    5. John Cromartie
    . 2007. “Education’s Effect on Poverty: The Role of Migration.” Review of Agricultural Economics 29(3): 437–45.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
  61. ↵
    1. Wiley, Keith
    . 2014. “The Role of the CDBG Program in Rural America.” Housing Policy Debate 24(1): 238–57.
    OpenUrl
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences: 8 (4)
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
Vol. 8, Issue 4
1 May 2022
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Cover (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Do Federal Place-Based Policies Improve Economic Opportunity in Rural Communities?
(Your Name) has sent you a message from RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
11 + 5 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Do Federal Place-Based Policies Improve Economic Opportunity in Rural Communities?
Emily Parker, Laura Tach, Cassandra Robertson
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences May 2022, 8 (4) 125-154; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2022.8.4.06

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Do Federal Place-Based Policies Improve Economic Opportunity in Rural Communities?
Emily Parker, Laura Tach, Cassandra Robertson
RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences May 2022, 8 (4) 125-154; DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2022.8.4.06
del.icio.us logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • BACKGROUND
    • DATA AND METHOD
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • Appendices
    • FOOTNOTES
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • public policy
  • geography
  • rural youth
  • economic opportunity

© 2025 RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

Powered by HighWire