IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/poprpr/v40y2021i2d10.1007_s11113-020-09572-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Countering Depopulation in Kansas: An Assessment of the Rural Opportunity Zone Program

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew M. Brooks

    (Pennsylvania State University)

Abstract

Many rural areas throughout the Great Plains, including Kansas, have been affected by “brain drain” or the out-migration of well-educated people. In response to this negative outlook, in 2012, Kansas implemented the Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) Program to encourage college-educated adults to move to the state’s rural counties. This brief aims to identify what influences individuals to participate in the program and what types of individuals are likely to participate. This study employed a survey of Kansas State University students and interviews with local officials who manage the program. Survey results reveal that most students do not view themselves as likely to participate in the program despite its financial incentives. Students likely to participate come from ROZ counties, are likely to find employment in rural areas, and hold positive views of rural life. Interviews with county officials revealed that the program primarily benefits individuals who had already intended to live in a rural area, and that the program rarely attracts newcomers. The program is poorly funded in many counties, and a lack of high-paying jobs limits growth in a way that the ROZ cannot outweigh. This brief also highlights the need for changes concerning the program’s benefits and awareness.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew M. Brooks, 2021. "Countering Depopulation in Kansas: An Assessment of the Rural Opportunity Zone Program," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(2), pages 137-148, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:poprpr:v:40:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s11113-020-09572-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11113-020-09572-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11113-020-09572-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11113-020-09572-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mary Ann Demi & Diane K. McLaughlin & Anastasia R. Snyder, 2009. "Rural Youth Residential Preferences: Understanding the Youth Development-Community Development Nexus," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 311-330, December.
    2. John V. Winters, 2017. "Do earnings by college major affect graduate migration?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(3), pages 629-649, November.
    3. Groen, J.A.Jeffrey A., 2004. "The effect of college location on migration of college-educated labor," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 125-142.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Taylor & Heather M. Stephens & Daniel Grossman, 2022. "The opioid crisis and economic distress: Consequences for population change," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 541-577, March.
    2. Michael Haan & Hyeongsuk Jin & Taylor Paul, 2023. "The Geographical Mobility of Journeypersons in Canada: Evidence from Administrative Data," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(2), pages 1-25, April.
    3. Luo Muchen & Rosita Hamdan & Rossazana Ab-Rahim, 2022. "Data-Driven Evaluation and Optimization of Agricultural Environmental Efficiency with Carbon Emission Constraints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, September.

    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. Pedro Carneiro & Sokbae Lee, 2011. "Trends in Quality-Adjusted Skill Premia in the United States, 1960-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2309-2349, October.
    2. Reinhard A. Weisser, 2020. "How Personality Shapes Study Location Choices," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(1), pages 88-116, February.
    3. Ann Marie Fiore & Linda S. Niehm & Jessica L. Hurst & Jihyeong Son & Amrut Sadachar & Daniel W. Russell & David Swenson & Christopher Seeger, 2015. "Will They Stay or Will They Go? Community Features Important in Migration Decisions of Recent University Graduates," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 29(1), pages 23-37, February.
    4. Jeffrey A. Groen, 2011. "Building Knowledge Stocks Locally," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(4), pages 316-329, November.
    5. John V. Winters, 2020. "In-State College Enrollment and Later Life Location Decisions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(4), pages 1400-1426.
    6. Paul D. Gottlieb, 2011. "Supply or Demand, Make or Buy," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(4), pages 303-315, November.
    7. Julia Weiss & Livio Ferrante & Mariano Soler-Porta, 2021. "There Is No Place like Home! How Willing Are Young Adults to Move to Find a Job?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, July.
    8. Goodman, Joshua, 2008. "Who merits financial aid?: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(10-11), pages 2121-2131, October.
    9. Dong Cheng, 2021. "Housing boom and non-housing consumption: evidence from urban households in China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(6), pages 3271-3313, December.
    10. Shields, Michael P., 2008. "Why Should State Government Invest in College Education? An Equilibrium Approach for the US in 2000," IZA Discussion Papers 3569, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Torberg Falch & Bjarne Strøm, 2021. "Mobility of novice teachers," Working Paper Series 19121, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
    12. Caryn M. Vazzana & Jeta Rudi-Polloshka, 2019. "Appalachia Has Got Talent, But Why Does It Flow Away? A Study on the Determinants of Brain Drain From Rural USA," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 33(3), pages 220-233, August.
    13. John V. Winters, 2022. "No Place Like Home: Place-Based Attachments and Regional Science," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 52(2), pages 159-175.
    14. Sydney Schreiner Wertz, 2023. "Business dynamism, educational attainment, and residential location choice," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 1026-1046, September.
    15. Winters, John V., 2020. "Problem on the Plains: College Earnings Premiums in Small Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 51(01), December.
    16. Sjoquist, David L. & Winters, John V., 2014. "Merit aid and post-college retention in the state," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 39-50.
    17. Winters, John V., 2011. "Human capital, higher education institutions, and quality of life," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 446-454, September.
    18. Leopoldo Gòmez-Ramírez & Marí­a Padilla-Romo, 2021. "Some Benefit, Some Are Left Behind: NAFTA and Educational Attainment in the United States," Working Papers 2021-02, University of Tennessee, Department of Economics.
    19. Chantal Oggenfuss & Stefan C. Wolter, 2019. "Are they coming back? The mobility of university graduates in switzerland [Kehren sie Zurück? Die Mobilität von Hochschulabsolventinnen und -Absolventen in der Schweiz]," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 39(2), pages 189-208, October.
    20. James R. Harrington & José Muñoz & Bradley R. Curs & Mark Ehlert, 2016. "Examining the Impact of a Highly Targeted State Administered Merit Aid Program on Brain Drain: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Analysis of Missouri’s Bright Flight Program," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(4), pages 423-447, June.

    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:kap:poprpr:v:40:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s11113-020-09572-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.