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The Booming Socioeconomic Impacts of Shale: A Review of Findings and Methods in the Empirical Literature

Author

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  • Fleming, David
  • Komarek, Timothy
  • Partridge, Mark
  • Measham, Thomas

Abstract

The U.S. shale boom has been joined by many other countries producing various unconventional fossil fuels (UFF) in the past decade. This new UFF industry differs from previous energy extraction by its rapid growth and sparse geographic nature, making the analysis of its socioeconomic consequences for extractive regions key for better regional planning and policy making. As such, the shale literature has boomed in recent years with numerous empirical studies evaluating and analysing different socioeconomic impacts from across the globe. This paper provides the first in-depth literature review of the growing body of empirical studies analysing the local impacts of shale (and other UFF) extraction, especially examining employment, income, population, housing, human and social capital effects and the co-existence of the industry with other productive activities. We find a quite surprising range of findings that in several occasions are contradictory, prompting more questions to many important issues. Given this broad range of results, we also focus on critical empirical considerations within this literature that are important to consider in future quantitative assessments of UFF impacts. Finally we provide some policy considerations and lines of future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Fleming, David & Komarek, Timothy & Partridge, Mark & Measham, Thomas, 2015. "The Booming Socioeconomic Impacts of Shale: A Review of Findings and Methods in the Empirical Literature," MPRA Paper 68487, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:68487
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    3. Isha Rajbhandari & Alessandra Faggian & Mark Partridge, 2020. "Migrants and boomtowns: micro evidence from the U.S. shale boom," Discussion Paper series in Regional Science & Economic Geography 2020-11, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Social Sciences, revised Dec 2020.
    4. Joseph Marchand & Jeremy Weber, 2018. "Local Labor Markets And Natural Resources: A Synthesis Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 469-490, April.
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    6. Evans, Neil & Jones, Calvin & Munday, Max & Song, Meng, 2019. "Economic effects in the UK periphery from unconventional gas development: Evidence from Wales," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1037-1046.
    7. Jason Brown & Timothy Fitzgerald & Jeremy G. Weber, 2016. "Asset Ownership, Windfalls, and Income: Evidence from Oil and Gas Royalties," Research Working Paper RWP 16-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    8. Timothy Fitzgerald, 2024. "Regulatory capture in a resource boom," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 198(1), pages 93-127, January.
    9. Karen Maguire & John V. Winters, 2017. "Energy Boom and Gloom? Local Effects of Oil and Natural Gas Drilling on Subjective Well†Being," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 590-610, December.
    10. Komarek, Timothy M., 2016. "Labor market dynamics and the unconventional natural gas boom: Evidence from the Marcellus region," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-17.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    shale; economics; fossil fuels; policy; regional planning; socioeconomic effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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