A Critical Review of Rural Poverty Literature: Is There Truly a Rural Effect?

Bruce Weber, Leif Jensen, Kathleen Miller, Jane Mosley and Monica Fisher
Additional contact information
Bruce Weber: Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University; RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center, Corvallisbruce.weber@oregonstate.edu
Kathleen Miller: Rural Policy Research Institute, Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri–Columbia millerkk@missouri.edu
Jane Mosley: Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri–Columbia; RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center, Columbia, MO mosleyj@missouri.edu
Monica Fisher: Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri–Columbia; RUPRI Rural Poverty Research Center, Corvallis, OR monica.fisher@oregonstate.edu

International Regional Science Review, 2005, vol. 28, issue 4, 381-414

Abstract: Poverty rates are highest in the most urban and most rural areas of the United States and are higher in nonmetropolitan than metropolitan areas. Yet perhaps because only one-fifth of the nation's 35 million poor people live in nonmetro areas, rural poverty has received less attention than urban poverty from both policy makers and researchers. The authors provide a critical review of literature that examines the factors affecting poverty in rural areas. The authors focus on studies that explore whether there is a rural effect, that is, whether there is something about rural places above and beyond demographic characteristics and local economic context that makes poverty more likely in those places. The authors identify methodological concerns (such as endogenous membership and omitted variables) that may limit the validity of conclusions from existing studies that there is a rural effect. The authors conclude with suggestions for research that would address these concerns and explore the processes and institutions in urban and rural areas that determine poverty, outcomes, and policy impacts.

Keywords: rural poverty; place effects; neighborhood effects; research methodology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0160017605278996 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:inrsre:v:28:y:2005:i:4:p:381-414

DOI: 10.1177/0160017605278996

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Regional Science Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().