Does Mining Influence Rural Economic Growth?

The influence of non-oil and gas mining (NAICS 212) activity on U.S. rural (nonmetro-politan) economic growth is modeled using a simple Barro-type growth framework. Because the type of mining examined tends to be clustered in regions of Appalachia and the Mountain West, we allow for spatial heterogeneity in the underlying growth process. We find that the global least square results suggest that higher dependency on non-oil and gas mining is asso-ciated with higher rates of income growth over the 2000 to 2011 time period. This relation-ship, however, varies significantly across the U.S. The positive relationship holds for much of the eastern part of the U.S., but a negative relationship is seen in parts of the Mountain West, and no relationship is observed for the Pacific West and much of the area associated with the Mississippi River Basin. Because of this spatial heterogeneity, care must be taken in making generalizations about non-oil and gas mining and rural economic growth