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Eric Swanson Dissertation.pdf (2.86 MB)

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The Influence of Urban Economies on Socioeconomic Well-Being Along the Rural-Urban Continuum

Swanson, Eric C
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5247-8060
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1680622763200542

Abstract Details

2023, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
Understanding the spatial distribution of socioeconomic well-being in the United States, and the disadvantage of rural areas relative to urban areas, is a core disciplinary concern of rural sociology. However, substantial demographic and economic changes in the U.S. over the past several decades have redistributed both people and economic influence towards urban areas. Both rural sociology’s poverty and place framework and official rural-urban classification systems need to adapt their analyses to account for rural-urban relationships in their current context. The poverty and place framework has traditionally focused on rural socioeconomic well-being in its rural context. It emphasizes the need to understand the historical path a place has taken that has led to its current system of power relations manifested in its government, economic, and social institutions. The economically dominant influence of large cities over rural areas has been under-theorized. In this dissertation, I integrate the poverty and place framework with theories from economic geography and regional economics to account for the economically dominant influence of large cities. This provides for a more holistic approach to studying spatial patterns of socioeconomic inequality across the rural-urban continuum. I apply this approach to analyze and critique existing rural-urban classifications as well as develop a novel classification system with more nuanced categories to study places on the rural-urban boundary. First, I analyze the USDA ERS Rural Urban Continuum Codes (RUCCs), the most commonly used official classification system that moves beyond a rural-urban binary. The nine RUCC categories encompass a range of county types, from those part of the largest metro areas, to those without significant urban settlements. After controlling for other structural characteristics, I find that increased metropolitan size is associated with higher socioeconomic well-being, and much of the overall metropolitan advantage in socioeconomic well-being is concentrated in the largest metropolitan areas. I also find few statistically significant differences among the nonmetropolitan categories, a homogeneity suggesting that the categories are missing important distinctions in the types of rural areas. Second, I develop a new classification system, the Rural-Urban Boundary County (RUBC) typology to analyze more nuanced county categories along the blurry boundaries between rural and urban. This novel classification system offers an important distinction between metro-core and peripheral metropolitan counties. I find that peripheral metropolitan counties have demographic and economic structures similar to nonmetropolitan counties but have much greater positive associations with socioeconomic well-being. These ‘rural-metro’ counties are an important conceptual category missing from official classification systems, such as the RUCCs. These counties’ economic integration with urban economies, indicated by their metropolitan status, is the primary trait differentiating them, and their greater socioeconomic well-being, from other rural counties. Third, I investigate the proposal that popular narratives of rural areas being ‘left behind’ are exacerbated by economically successful rural areas being reclassified from nonmetropolitan to metropolitan, and therefore counted as urban. I find that counties reclassified from nonmetro to metro were associated with greater socioeconomic well-being relative to counties that remained nonmetropolitan; however, this association was driven by counties that joined the largest metropolitan areas. This reinforces my previous observations indicating the strong positive influence of large cities on socioeconomic well-being. Taken together, my findings indicate that cities, and especially large cities, have a substantial positive influence on socioeconomic well-being that has been undertheorized by rural sociologists. This influence extends to smaller places and rural areas in cities’ economically integrated hinterlands. These ‘rural metro’ areas are an important new conceptual category presently missing from official rural-urban classification systems. My results show the need for rural sociologists to adapt our conceptions and classifications of the rural-urban continuum to account for demographic changes and the rising economic dominance of cities.
Jeff Sharp (Committee Member)
Kerry Ard (Committee Co-Chair)
Linda Lobao (Committee Co-Chair)
230 p.
Economics; Regional Studies; Sociology
rural, poverty, rural poverty, regional economics, spatial, RUCC, rural urban continuum

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Swanson, E. C. (2023). The Influence of Urban Economies on Socioeconomic Well-Being Along the Rural-Urban Continuum [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1680622763200542

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Swanson, Eric. The Influence of Urban Economies on Socioeconomic Well-Being Along the Rural-Urban Continuum. 2023. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1680622763200542.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Swanson, Eric. "The Influence of Urban Economies on Socioeconomic Well-Being Along the Rural-Urban Continuum." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1680622763200542

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1680622763200542
226
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