The shift of the U.S. meat packing industry from urban to rural areas has generated controversy regarding potential social and economic costs of meat packing plants on their host communities. This study uses media comments to identify the most prominent controversies regarding meat packing, its...

We test whether commonly used measures of agglomeration economies encourage new firm entry in both urban and rural markets.  Using new firm location decisions in Iowa and North Carolina, we find that measured agglomeration economies increase the probability of new firm entry in both urban and...

This study submits eleven business climate indexes to tests of their ability to predict relative economic performance on either side of state borders. Our results show that most business climate indexes have no ability to predict relative economic growth regardless of how growth is measured. ...

Considerable controversy exists regarding the costs and benefits of growth in the meat packing and processing industry for rural counties. This study investigates the effects of this industry on social and economic outcomes in nonmetropolitan counties of 23 Midwestern and Southern states from...

This article illustrates the commonly overlooked sample selection problem inherent in using rural classification methods that change over time due to population changes. Since fast-growing rural areas grow out of their rural status, using recent rural definitions excludes the most successful...

Considerable controversy exists regarding the costs and benefits of growth in the meat packing and processing industry for rural counties. This study investigates the effects of this industry on social and economic outcomes in nonmetropolitan counties of 23 Midwestern and Southern states from...

Note: The material contained herein is supplementary to the article named in the title and published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE).

Growth in the meat packing and processing industry in the Midwestern United States has generated a significant amount of debate regarding the costs and benefits of this type of economic development. This research employs 1990-2000 proprietary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics'...

Beale codes are an important tool for examining rural urban differences in socioeconomic trends. However, as population changes, counties' designations also change over time. This feature of Beale codes is commonly overlooked by researchers, yet it has important implications for understanding...