The rural economy began 2006 facing an uncertain outlook. For two years, rural growth had been unusually strong. But rising energy prices threatened to stall the expansion. Many businesses had already been weakened by high input costs, and many households were feeling squeezed by higher costs for gas and heating fuel. As the year progressed, however, some rural communities were able to harness the power of high energy prices by taking part in its production. ; Energy activity helped boost the fortunes of many rural places, but the rural economy as a whole slowed in 2006. Nonfarm economic growth moderated as production costs increased and construction activity cooled. Farm incomes also declined as severe drought limited production and higher energy prices cut profits. Still, rising crop prices fueled by ethanol production kindled optimism for new economic engines in rural America. ; Henderson and Akers review the state of the rural economy. First, they discuss the slower, but steadier, expansion on Main Streets. Then they examine the health of the farm economy. Finally, they explore rural prospects for 2007 and discuss the influences of robust energy activity on the rural economy.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Article provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in its journal Economic Review.
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)