Publications

2020 Annual Report

This report summarizes annual accomplishments and activities at the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development.

Authors: Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development

Date Published: February 1, 2021

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If You Build Them… Will it Matter? Food Stores’ Presence and Perceived Barriers to Purchasing Healthy Foods in the Northeastern U.S.

Policies incentivizing store entry or store improvements are aimed at increasing access to healthy foods; however, findings about their effectiveness to improve diets are mixed. Similarly, little is known about whether food stores’ presence affects consumers’ perceived barriers to purchasing healthy foods, which reflect the subjective hardships experienced by shoppers to purchase and consume healthier foods. In this study, we assess the relationship between the two most widely studied perceived barriers to purchasing healthy foods (price and availability) and the local retail food environment using individual-level survey data collected across the northeastern US and census data on the numbers of grocery stores and warehouse clubs and supercenters. Our results indicate that unobserved heterogeneity plays an important role in determining the sign and magnitude of the relationship between store presence and perceptions. The likelihood that an individual cites price or availability as a perceived barrier depends upon the barrier considered, whether respondents live in the zip code where they shop, and the method of controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. Thus, policies focusing on improving access to a given store type may only mitigate some of the negative perceptions associated with one’s food environment.

Authors: Lauren Chenarides, Alessandro Bonanno, Anne Palmer

Publication: Applied Economics Perspective and Policy Date Published: October 12, 2020

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The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.

A summary of “The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.,” by Kathryn R. Dotzel and Alessandra Faggian. Published in Growth and Change, 2019; 50: 515– 547. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12289. This brief was published on June 29, 2020.

Key Takeaways

• This study explored the relationship between innovation and knowledge management–the formation of structures that allow businesses to acquire and integrate new knowledge. The specific focus was on external knowledge sourcing–which outside sources firms target for information that supports the development of new and improved products and production processes.
• For both rural and urban businesses, sources of information characterized by strong ties and high degrees of trust (“primary” sources) had larger positive impacts on most considered innovation outcomes (compared to “secondary” sources).
• When primary knowledge sources were distinguished by industry orientation relative to the business, sources with knowledge bases outside of the business’s industry (“extra-industry” primary sources) had stronger positive relationships with the majority of considered innovation outcomes for rural businesses. Urban businesses, however, seemed to derive relatively equal benefits to innovation from relationships with their extra-industry and “intra-industry” primary sources–those with knowledge bases within the same industry.

Authors: Kristen Devlin and Stephan J. Goetz

Publication: NERCRD Innovation Issues Brief Series Date Published: June 29, 2020

Tags: Innovation Issues Briefs, rural innovation

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Sources of inspiration matter to business innovation outcomes

A summary of “Sources of innovation and innovation type: firm-level evidence from the United States,” by Mehmet Afik Demircioglu, David B. Audretsch, and Timothy F. Slaper. Published in Industrial and Corporate Change, 2019, 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtz010. This brief was published on June 29, 2020.

Key Takeaways

• Businesses tap different sources of knowledge and creativity to drive their innovation activities. Different innovation outcomes are associated with different sources of knowledge.
• Customers, workers, and universities are sources of knowledge positively associated with all types of innovation activity.
• Universities had the statistically strongest effect, suggesting that they are critical to innovation.

Authors: Kristen Devlin and Stephan J. Goetz

Publication: NERCRD Innovation Issues Brief Series Date Published: June 29, 2020

Tags: Innovation Issues Briefs, rural innovation

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Google Searches Reveal Changing Consumer Food Sourcing in the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this commentary published in 2021, we examine how consumer interest changed since the advent of the pandemic, by observing Google search trends.

Authors: Claudia Schmidt, Stephan J. Goetz, Sarah Rocker, Zheng Tian

Publication: Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development Date Published: May 21, 2020

Tags: COVID-19

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Americans’ Food Spending Patterns Explain Devastating Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service’s Food Expenditures by Outlet data provide insight as to why the lockdowns related to COVID-19 have been so devastating for U.S. farmers.

Authors: Stephan J. Goetz, Claudia Schmidt, Lisa Chase, Jane Kolodinsky

Publication: Journal of Food Systems, Agriculture, and Community Development Date Published: May 21, 2020

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In the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Industry, Market Workers and Local Specialized Freight Truckers May be at Greatest Risk

NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief No. 2020-10: This data brief was released during the COVID-19 pandemic and examined data relating to the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Industry during that time.

Authors: Stephan J. Goetz, Devon Meadowcroft, Claudia Schmidt, Prasanjit Mitra and Francesco Di Gioia

Publication: NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief Series Date Published: May 12, 2020

Tags: COVID-19, COVID-19 Data Briefs

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Nonmetro COVID-19 Case Growth Higher in Metro-Adjacent Counties, but Case-Fatality Ratio is Lower so Far

NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief No. 2020-8: This brief, published in May 2020, offered a snapshot of COVID-19 cases by county type.

Authors: Zheng Tian, Stephan J. Goetz, L. Goetz-Weiss

Publication: NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief Series Date Published: May 5, 2020

Tags: COVID-19, COVID-19 Data Briefs

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Brief: Google Searches Reveal Changing Consumer Food Sourcing in the COVID-19 Pandemic

NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief No. 2020-7. This brief was also published as a commentary in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development.

Authors: Claudia Schmidt, Stephan J. Goetz, Sarah J. Rocker, Zheng Tian

Publication: NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief Series Date Published: May 4, 2020

Tags: COVID-19, COVID-19 Data Briefs

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Google Searches Predict Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims

NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief No. 2020-5: The COVID-19 pandemic produced historically unprecedented numbers of layoffs, leading to surges in the number of unemployment filings: over 26 million Americans have filed claims for unemployment benefits (New York Times, 4/23/2020). In this brief we show how Google Trends searches predated or anticipated these filings, and how they were propagated across the different states as the coronavirus took its toll.

Authors: Zheng Tian and Stephan J. Goetz

Publication: NERCRD COVID-19 Issues Brief Series Date Published: May 1, 2020

Tags: COVID-19, COVID-19 Data Briefs

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