06-21-2017, 01:12 PM
(06-21-2017, 12:53 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Great points as always, you think of things that I overlook. However, the emphasis of the article was on leading manufacturers of orthopedic products, weather or not natural gas is present in the vicinity seems immaterial. I would think that tax climate and quality of workforce would be larger determining factors in these companies locating in Indiana than the presence of a geological resource. I could be wrong, but that just makes more sense, to me.
The article brought up the natural gas issue.
Quote:Kosciusko is only one of 73 counties in the United States with unemployment rates of 2 percent or lower, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many are in energy-rich counties in the Midwest and Colorado, where the fracking and natural gas booms have vacuumed up the workforce.
Reading this again, the article did say many, not most. So, not knowing which report they looked at I went to the annual average for 2016 found here: https://www.bls.gov/lau/#cntyaa
Sorting by the unemployment rate and looking at the top 100, only one state of those top ten business friendly states from your article has any counties represented in the list (Texas with 4). Now, this is very simplified and not a good representative sample as there are 32,219 counties in total on their list, but even with that we should have seen a higher representation than 4 counties out of the top 100 from the top ten business friendly states. The Dakotas had many represented on the list and they both rank in the 20s.
So again, seems to be to not be enough evidence to show a causal relationship. Location has a lot to do with these things. Proximity to resources, infrastructure, etc. Also keeping in mind that some states and localities implement more business friendly policy in an attempt to compensate for areas they may lack in. So a locality with a poor infrastructure may offer more incentives to lure businesses in despite that failing. Whether this helps to improve their infrastructure in the long run or causes a "race to the bottom" can be hit and miss with these policies.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
