Education and socioeconomic well-being in racially diverse rural counties

Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Aug 2003 by Mykerezi, Elton, Mills, Bradford, Gomes, Sonya

This paper examines trends in the socioeconomic well-being in rural counties where Black residents represent one third or more of the population. These racially diverse rural counties (RDRCs) are located exclusively in the rural South and generally have low levels of economic well-being. On a positive note, college education levels in RDRCs are found to have increased rapidly between 1990 and 2000. Regression analysis suggests that these increases were in part due to the concentration of Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the region. Local investments in K-12 education are also found to be linked to county education levels.

Key Words: Blacks, public education, public investment, rural South

Two factors show a strong association with the level of family economic well-being in rural America: race and geographic location. U.S. racial disparities in economic well-being have been well documented. Historically, Blacks have lower returns to education and lower levels of educational attainment than Whites. Legacies of segregation and continuing discrimination in labor markets are contributing factors to persistent differences in economic well-being (Darity and Mason). Receiving less attention is the strong geographic dimension of racial disparities in economic well-being (Kodras).

The rural South has historically been the poorest region of the country. U.S. Bureau of Census Current Population Survey (CPS) data on economic well-being in the year 2001 indicates that in the rural South, 18.0% of persons lived in families below the poverty line compared to 1 1.9% for the nation as a whole.1 Blacks show a particularly strong concentration within the rural South, with over 89% of all rural Blacks living in the region. Blacks also show an exceptionally high rate of poverty in the rural South (31.6%) compared to their national average (23.0%).

Blacks with lower levels of economic well-being are also highly clustered geographically within rural areas of the South (Cook). For example, Beale finds that in over half of the persistently poor rural counties with poverty rates above 20% in each U.S. Census from 1960 to 1990, Blacks are either the majority of the poor or their incidence of poverty alone accounts for the total poverty rate of above 20%. In summary, rural counties with high proportions of Black residents are located almost exclusively in the South and many are consistently among the poorest counties in the United States. The chronically high incidences of families with low levels of economic well-being in these counties create serious barriers to economic development. Low income levels limit the tax base and the level of local public services that can be provided. Low levels of public services, combined with historically low levels of educational attainment, limit the attractiveness for business. Almost half of all firms surveyed in predominantly Black rural counties cited the poor quality of local schools as a major problem for their plant's ability to compete (Cook). As a result, firms demanding skilled labor do not locate in these areas and educated young adults are often forced to migrate in order to find skilled employment (Mills and Hazarika). Low education levels among those remaining in turn limit potential earnings, limit the local tax base, and constrain local funding for public schools.

State and federal support for public education can potentially assist local governments in improving area education levels, attractiveness for business, local labor market opportunities, income and well-being, and the local tax base. However, racially diverse rural counties (RDRCs) often have few inherent political advantages in lobbying for such support. As state and federal resources are increasingly limited and funding decisions are decentralized, localities must be able to document the effectiveness of local infrastructure investments in order to compete for funds. Even if state and federal assistance is not forthcoming, RDRCs need to clearly identify areas where local assets can be employed most effectively in order to improve economic well-being. But to date, few studies have formally identified the contribution of investments in education and other areas to economic well-being in RDRCs.

This paper uses 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census of Population and Housing data to examine recent trends in economic and socioeconomic well-being in rural counties with large shares of Black residents. Although these racially diverse counties are located exclusively in the rural South, conditions and trends are compared to rural U.S. counties as a whole for reference. County-level measures of public expenditures and their association with social indicators, particularly education levels, are then examined. This is followed by an analysis of the role that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) play in providing accessible higher education in RDRCs.

Location and Population

Counties defined as nonmetropolitan on the basis of the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing are designated as rural in this study.2 The base U.S. Bureau of Census STF3C data for 1990 contain 2,300 rural counties. Consistent with the Economic Research Service. We designate RDRCs as those counties where Black residents comprise one third or more of the population.3 U.S. Census data indicate that, under this definition, there were 208 RDRCs in 1990. The geographic location of these counties is shown in Figure 1. Consistent with previous analysis, RDRCs are located exclusively in the South and are strongly clustered. Furthermore, the concentration of Black residents in these counties is striking; although accounting for only 8.8% of the total rural population in 1990, 44.0% of the rural Black population lived in RDRCs (Table 1).