Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Bounds, Bonnie Elizabeth
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2019
Subjects:	Geography rural rural US prosperity human capital economic development gendered educational attainment healthcare and education
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu156319163880692

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu1563191638806922021-08-03T07:11:43Z Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US Bounds, Bonnie Elizabeth Geography rural rural US prosperity human capital economic development gendered educational attainment healthcare and education In recent years, the US national media and the general American public have developed a heightened interest in the social, economic, and demographic challenges rural America faces today. These challenges, however, have arisen from economic and social changes that have been transpiring for decades. This dissertation consists of three distinct yet interconnected studies, with each study serving as a lens through which to analyze rural prosperity.The first study concerns itself with challenging the notion that "prosperity" must always equate to population growth, economic growth, or both. This limited conceptualization often excludes rural communities which might otherwise be considered prosperous even though they are not growing. I use principal component analysis to explore regional variation in what constitutes prosperity and to create a prosperity and distress index. I find that despite variation among regions, the primary component in all cases is low prosperity, which means that in all regions and for the country as a whole, counties with low prosperity have the strongest characteristics in common. The index overlaps with growth-oriented definitions of prosperity to an extent in that it ranks rural counties among the least prosperous and urban counties among the most prosperous; however, it does so based on a broad range of indicators beyond simple economic and population growth, providing more nuanced rankings. The index also reveals considerable geographic diversity.In the second study, I employ regression analysis to examine how gender (im)balance in higher educational attainment connects to local economic conditions, in addition to using multiple hypothesis testing to determine how this (im)balance varies in urban, small urban, and rural counties across age cohorts and spatial statistical analysis to reveal how it is distributed spatially. The results of this analysis indicate that counties with college-educated populations that are predominantly female also tend to experience poorer economic conditions. Additionally, I find that while patterns of gender disparities in college attainment remain largely the same across age cohorts, they vary significantly according to degree of rurality. Statistically significant clustering is also present, resulting from distinct spatial patterns. The objective of the third study is to determine the potential role of the healthcare and K-12 education industries (''meds and eds'') in contributing to place prosperity and people prosperity in rural communities. I use regression analysis to investigate whether higher percentages of total employment in meds and eds are associated with higher local levels of human capital (defined as educational attainment), thus contributing to place prosperity. To determine whether meds and eds generally pay above local median wages, I calculate Wage Premium Quotients (WPQs) by dividing median earnings for selected skilled meds and eds occupations by the local median. I find that greater employment in meds and eds is in fact associated with higher levels of human capital, and for the majority of US counties, meds and eds do pay wages above local medians. These findings support the idea that meds and eds can contribute to both place prosperity and people prosperity. 2019-10-09 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu156319163880692 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu156319163880692 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Geography rural rural US prosperity human capital economic development gendered educational attainment healthcare and education
spellingShingle	Geography rural rural US prosperity human capital economic development gendered educational attainment healthcare and education Bounds, Bonnie Elizabeth Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US
author	Bounds, Bonnie Elizabeth
author_facet	Bounds, Bonnie Elizabeth
author_sort	Bounds, Bonnie Elizabeth
title	Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US
title_short	Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US
title_full	Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US
title_fullStr	Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US
title_full_unstemmed	Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US
title_sort	distress and success in small places: prosperity, gendered educational attainment, and skilled occupations in the nonmetropolitan us
publisher	The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2019
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu156319163880692
work_keys_str_mv	AT boundsbonnieelizabeth distressandsuccessinsmallplacesprosperitygenderededucationalattainmentandskilledoccupationsinthenonmetropolitanus
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Distress and Success in Small Places: Prosperity, Gendered Educational Attainment, and Skilled Occupations in the Nonmetropolitan US

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