Poverty and Employment in Forest-Dependent Counties
Authors:
Chirstopher Costello, Louise Fortmann, Peter Berck, Sandra Hoffman
Tags:
employment base-multiplier effects, forest policy, old-growth, poverty reduction, state level poverty alleviation, vector autoregressive analysis
Journal:
Forest Science
Year Published:
2003
Policy Summary
This study consideres the fundamental question for forest-dependent areas: whether federal and state policies aimed at protecting old-growth ecosystems will result in local economic stagnation and enduring pockets of poverty. It finds that employment base-multiplier effects of timber employment on other county employment are small and state economic conditions rather than local employment conditions are the principal driver behind local poverty. This suggests that policy that is effective at alleviating poverty at a state level may be more effective in reducing poverty in local areas than a policy targeted at increasing local industry-related employment.
