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...

The objective of this study was twofold: (1) to identify nontraditional sources of data that can be used to monitor economic activity in rural areas, and (2) to test the relationship between such data and trends in traditional measures, such as income and employment.

Rural communities compete with each other for firms, but their residents often commute large distances to work. Consequently, rural communities can benefit from economic growth occurring as much as 50 miles away. Data on county population growth shows that counties benefit from growth one or two...

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'...