Intra-Regional Economic Connectivity: The Role of Industry Clusters in Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide

This research explores an alternative path for economic development via local connections to regional economies. It presents new analysis of the potential and circumstances under which county level industry clusters can be strengthened by connecting to regional clusters – networks of businesses, labor pools, etc., whose linkages cross local and even state jurisdictional boundaries. Specifically, this analysis examines how different types of industry clusters and types of urban and rural communities within regions respond to intra-regional connectivity. Independent-samples t-tests are conducted to assess whether significant differences in the annualized county-cluster employment growth rate (2010-2016) exist between connected and not-connected county-clusters overall, in different types of communities (metropolitan, micropolitan, rural adjacent and rural remote) and across types of industry clusters. The results suggest that intra-regional economic connectivity has a strong, positive association with county-cluster employment growth. These results are particularly pronounced for more rural communities but are present across county types, including metropolitan. The magnitude of the economic impact derived from connectivity with the regional economy varies by industry cluster. The results suggest an alternative approach to cluster-based economic development strategies that more strategically accounts for and bolsters connectivity. Policy recommendations for how to apply an intra-regional connectivity framework to narrow the urban-rural divide, as well as several regional profiles, are offered.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Planning, Governance, and Globalization

Department dc:contributor.department

Public Administration/Public Affairs

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• McFarland, Christiana K.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Cowell, Margaret M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Provo, John
• Sanchez, Thomas W.
• Tate, Anthony S.

• regional economic development
• urban-rural divide
• industry clusters

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:24343

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/105188