IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/okl/wpaper/0907.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Population Growth in High Amenity Nonmetropolitan Areas: What’s the Prognosis?

Author

Listed:
  • Dan S. Rickman

    (Oklahoma State University)

  • Shane D. Rickman

    (University of Wyoming)

Abstract

This paper examines the continued strong population growth in U.S. nonmetropolitan areas possessing high levels of natural amenities during the 1990s and the potential reasons for convergence of population growth across the top tiers of the amenity hierarchy. Based on an examination of spatial hedonic growth regressions, it is concluded that strong demand for high amenity areas continued in the 1990s, but the convergence in population growth across the top tiers was related to convergence in quality of life and lower productivity growth in the highest amenity tier counties, not inelasticity in the supply of land and housing. The results suggest continued convergence in population growth in the near future and further suggest that local policymakers in the most amenity attractive areas should focus on protecting and enhancing valued local area natural characteristics; failure to do so will lead to a lower local quality of life and stagnation of area economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan S. Rickman & Shane D. Rickman, 2009. "Population Growth in High Amenity Nonmetropolitan Areas: What’s the Prognosis?," Economics Working Paper Series 0907, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
  • Handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:0907
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://business.okstate.edu/site-files/docs/ecls-working-papers/0907_Rickman_PopGrowthAmenity.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raven E. Saks & Abigail Wozniak, 2011. "Labor Reallocation over the Business Cycle: New Evidence from Internal Migration," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(4), pages 697-739.
    2. Edward L. Glaeser, Jed Kolko, and Albert Saiz, 2001. "Consumer city," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 27-50, January.
    3. Gunderson, Ronald J. & Pinto, James V. & Williams, Robert H., 2008. "Economic or Amenity Driven Migration? A Cluster-Based Analysis of County Migration in the Four Corners States," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 38(3), pages 1-12.
    4. David J. Lewis & Gary L. Hunt & DAndrew J. Plantinga, 2002. "Public Conservation Land and Employment Growth in the Northern Forest Region," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(2), pages 245-259.
    5. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman, 2006. "An SVAR Model of Fluctuations in U.S. Migration Flows and State Labor Market Dynamics," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(4), pages 958-980, April.
    6. Guy Dumais & Glenn Ellison & Edward L. Glaeser, 2002. "Geographic Concentration As A Dynamic Process," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 193-204, May.
    7. Jesse M. Shapiro, 2006. "Smart Cities: Quality of Life, Productivity, and the Growth Effects of Human Capital," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 324-335, May.
    8. Rudzitis, Gundars, 1999. "Amenities Increasingly Draw People to the Rural West," Rural America/ Rural Development Perspectives, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 14(2), September.
    9. Alexander C. Vias & John I. Carruthers, 2005. "Regional Development and Land Use Change in the Rocky Mountain West, 1982‐1997," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 244-272, June.
    10. Greenwood, Michael J, et al, 1991. "Migration, Regional Equilibrium, and the Estimation of Compensating Differentials," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1382-1390, December.
    11. Poudyal, Neelam C. & Hodges, Donald G. & Cordell, H. Ken, 2008. "The role of natural resource amenities in attracting retirees: Implications for economic growth policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 240-248, December.
    12. Roback, Jennifer, 1982. "Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1257-1278, December.
    13. Vias, Alexander C., 1999. "Jobs Follow People in the Rural Rocky Mountain West," Rural America/ Rural Development Perspectives, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 14(2), September.
    14. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Kim, Seung Gyu & Roberts, Roland K. & Jung, Suhyun, 2009. "Amenity values of spatial configurations of forest landscapes over space and time in the Southern Appalachian Highlands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2646-2657, August.
    15. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Ali, Kamar & Olfert, M. Rose, 2009. "Agglomeration spillovers and wage and housing cost gradients across the urban hierarchy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 126-140, June.
    16. McGranahan, David A., 1999. "Natural Amenities Drive Rural Population Change," Agricultural Economic Reports 33955, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    17. Stephan Weiler & Andrew Seidl, 2004. "What's in a Name? Extracting Econometric Drivers to Assess The Impact of National Park Designation," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 245-262, May.
    18. Davis, Morris A. & Palumbo, Michael G., 2008. "The price of residential land in large US cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 352-384, January.
    19. Ronald L. Whisler & Brigitte S. Waldorf & Gordon F. Mulligan & David A. Plane, 2008. "Quality of Life and the Migration of the College‐Educated: A Life‐Course Approach," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 58-94, March.
    20. David Mcgranahan & Timothy Wojan, 2007. "Recasting the Creative Class to Examine Growth Processes in Rural and Urban Counties," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(2), pages 197-216.
    21. Stuart A. Gabriel & Stuart S. Rosenthal, 2004. "Quality of the Business Environment Versus Quality of Life: Do Firms and Households Like the Same Cities?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 438-444, February.
    22. Graves, Philip E., 1979. "A life-cycle empirical analysis of migration and climate, by race," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 135-147, April.
    23. Steven C. Deller & Tsung-Hsiu (Sue) Tsai & David W. Marcouiller & Donald B.K. English, 2001. "The Role of Amenities and Quality of Life In Rural Economic Growth," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(2), pages 352-365.
    24. Benson, Earl D & Hansen, Julia L. & Schwartz Jr., Arthur & Smersh, Greg T., 1998. "Pricing Residential Amenities: The Value of a View," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 55-73, January.
    25. Daniel C. Monchuk & John A. Miranowski & Dermot J. Hayes & Bruce A. Babcock, 2007. "An Analysis of Regional Economic Growth in the U.S. Midwest," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(1), pages 17-39.
    26. Mark D. Partridge & Dan S. Rickman & Kamar Ali & M. Rose Olfert, 2008. "The Geographic Diversity of U.S. Nonmetropolitan Growth Dynamics: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(2), pages 241-266.
    27. H. Hanson, Gordon, 2005. "Market potential, increasing returns and geographic concentration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 1-24, September.
    28. Morris A. Davis & Francois Ortalo-Magne, 2011. "Household Expenditures, Wages, Rents," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(2), pages 248-261, April.
    29. Sengupta, Sanchita & Osgood, Daniel Edward, 2003. "The value of remoteness: a hedonic estimation of ranchette prices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 91-103, February.
    30. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Ali, Kamar & Olfert, M. Rose, 2010. "Recent spatial growth dynamics in wages and housing costs: Proximity to urban production externalities and consumer amenities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 440-452, November.
    31. Cromartie, John B. & Wardwell, John M., 1999. "Migrants Settling Far and Wide in the Rural West," Rural America/ Rural Development Perspectives, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 14(2), September.
    32. Cromartie, John B., 1998. "Net Migration in the Great Plains Increasingly Linked to Natural Amenities and Suburbanization," Rural America/ Rural Development Perspectives, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 13(1), February.
    33. David E. Clark & William E. Herrin & Thomas A. Knapp & Nancy E. White, 2003. "Migration and implicit amenity markets: does incomplete compensation matter?," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 289-307, July.
    34. Kristopher D. White & M. Hanink, 2004. "“Moderate” Environmental Amenities and Economic Change: The Nonmetropolitan Northern Forest of the Northeast U.S., 1970‐2000," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(1), pages 42-60, February.
    35. Chen, Yong & Irwin, Elena G. & Jayaprakash, Ciriyam, 2009. "Dynamic modeling of environmental amenity-driven migration with ecological feedbacks," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2498-2510, August.
    36. Rappaport, Jordan, 2007. "Moving to nice weather," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 375-398, May.
    37. Beeson, Patricia E & Eberts, Randall W, 1989. "Identifying Productivity and Amenity Effects in Interurban Wage Differentials," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(3), pages 443-452, August.
    38. JunJie Wu & Munisamy Gopinath, 2008. "What Causes Spatial Variations in Economic Development in the United States?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 90(2), pages 392-408.
    39. Daniel P. McMillen, 2003. "Spatial Autocorrelation Or Model Misspecification?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 26(2), pages 208-217, April.
    40. Cho, Seong-Hoon & Poudyal, Neelam C. & Roberts, Roland K., 2008. "Spatial analysis of the amenity value of green open space," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 403-416, June.
    41. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2003. "The Rising Price of Nonmarket Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 227-232, May.
    42. Henderson, Jason R. & McDaniel, Kendall, 2005. "Natural Amenities and Rural Employment Growth: A Sector Analysis," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 35(1), pages 80-96.
    43. Gabriel, Stuart A. & Mattey, Joe P. & Wascher, William L., 2003. "Compensating differentials and evolution in the quality-of-life among U.S. states," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 619-649, September.
    44. Blomquist, Glenn C & Berger, Mark C & Hoehn, John P, 1988. "New Estimates of Quality of Life in Urban Areas," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(1), pages 89-107, March.
    45. Partridge Mark D. & Rickman Dan S & Ali Kamar & Olfert M. Rose, 2008. "Employment Growth in the American Urban Hierarchy: Long Live Distance," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-38, March.
    46. David A. McGranahan & Timothy R. Wojan & Dayton M. Lambert, 2011. "The rural growth trifecta: outdoor amenities, creative class and entrepreneurial context -super-§," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 529-557, May.
    47. Mark Frank, 2009. "Income Inequality, Human Capital, and Income Growth: Evidence from a State-Level VAR Analysis," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 37(2), pages 173-185, June.
    48. Cragg, Michael I. & Kahn, Matthew E., 1999. "Climate consumption and climate pricing from 1940 to 1990," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 519-539, July.
    49. Joris Pinkse & Margaret E. Slade, 2010. "The Future Of Spatial Econometrics," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 103-117, February.
    50. Richard B. Peiser & Lawrence B. Smith, 1985. "Homeownership Returns, Tenure Choice and Inflation," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 13(4), pages 343-360, December.
    51. Edward L. Glaeser & Kristina Tobio, 2008. "The Rise of the Sunbelt," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(3), pages 610-643, January.
    52. Kahn, Matthew E, 2001. "City Quality-of-Life Dynamics: Measuring the Costs of Growth," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2-3), pages 339-352, March-May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S., 2012. "Integrating regional economic development analysis and land use economics," MPRA Paper 38291, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Ali, Kamar & Olfert, M. Rose, 2010. "Recent spatial growth dynamics in wages and housing costs: Proximity to urban production externalities and consumer amenities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 440-452, November.
    3. Dan S. Rickman & Hongbo Wang, 2017. "US regional population growth 2000–2010: Natural amenities or urban agglomeration?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 96, pages 69-90, March.
    4. Dan S. Rickman & Hongbo Wang, 2020. "Whither the American west economy? Natural amenities, mineral resources and nonmetropolitan county growth," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 65(3), pages 673-701, December.
    5. Waltert, Fabian & Schläpfer, Felix, 2010. "Landscape amenities and local development: A review of migration, regional economic and hedonic pricing studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 141-152, December.
    6. Hongbo Wang, 2016. "The Texas economic model, miracle or mirage? A spatial hedonic analysis," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(2), pages 393-417, March.
    7. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Ali, Kamar & Olfert, M. Rose, 2009. "Agglomeration spillovers and wage and housing cost gradients across the urban hierarchy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 126-140, June.
    8. Amanda L. Weinstein & Michael Hicks & Emily Wornell, 2023. "An aggregate approach to estimating quality of life in micropolitan areas," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(2), pages 447-476, April.
    9. John Carruthers & Gordon F. Mulligan, 2012. "The plane of living and the precrisis evolution of housing values in the USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 739-773, July.
    10. Yong Chen & David J. Lewis & Bruce Weber, 2016. "Conservation Land Amenities And Regional Economies: A Postmatching Difference-In-Differences Analysis Of The Northwest Forest Plan," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 373-394, June.
    11. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Tobias D. Ketterer, 2012. "Do Local Amenities Affect The Appeal Of Regions In Europe For Migrants?," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 535-561, October.
    12. Davidsson, Michael & Cortes, Bienvenido, 2017. "The Role of the Housing Supply and the Regulatory Environment in Economic Growth of Micropolitan Statistical Areas," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 47(1).
    13. John Winters, 2013. "Differences in quality of life estimates using rents and home values," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 51(2), pages 377-409, October.
    14. Mark D. Partridge, 2010. "The duelling models: NEG vs amenity migration in explaining US engines of growth," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(3), pages 513-536, August.
    15. Alessandra Faggian & M. Rose Olfert & Mark D. Partridge, 2011. "Inferring regional well-being from individual revealed preferences: the 'voting with your feet' approach," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 5(1), pages 163-180.
    16. Partridge, Mark D. & Rickman, Dan S. & Olfert, M. Rose & Ali, Kamar, 2012. "Dwindling U.S. internal migration: Evidence of spatial equilibrium or structural shifts in local labor markets?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 375-388.
    17. Elena G. Irwin & Andrew M. Isserman & Maureen Kilkenny & Mark D. Partridge, 2010. "A Century of Research on Rural Development and Regional Issues," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 92(2), pages 522-553.
    18. Heather M. Stephens & Mark D. Partridge, 2015. "Lake Amenities, Environmental Degradation, and Great Lakes Regional Growth," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 38(1), pages 61-91, January.
    19. Kent Kovacs & Robert G. Haight & Grant West, 2017. "Protected Area Designation, Natural Amenities, and Rural Development of Forested Counties in the Continental United States," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 611-639, December.
    20. Zhang, Min & Partridge, Mark & Song, Huasheng, 2018. "Amenities and Geography of Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Cities," MPRA Paper 83673, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:okl:wpaper:0907. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Harounan Kazianga (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sboksus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.