McGranahan D. and Wojan T. (2007) Recasting the creative class to examine growth processes in rural and urban counties, Regional Studies 41, 1-20. Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class (2002) makes a compelling argument that regional development now depends on novel combinations of knowledge and ideas, that certain occupations specialize in this task, that people in these occupations are drawn to areas providing a high quality of life, and thus the essential development strategy is to create an environment that attracts and retains these workers. The present analysis of recent rural development in rural US counties, which focuses on natural amenities as quality of life indicators, supports the creative class thesis. A repetition for urban counties also shows a strong relationship between creative class presence and growth, although natural amenities play a smaller role. However, the results depend on a recast creative class measure, which excludes from the original Florida measure many occupations with low creativity requirements and those involved primarily in economic reproduction. The measure conforms more closely to the concept of creative class and proves to be more highly associated with regional development than the original Florida measure. McGranahan D. et Wojan T. (2007) Reformuler la classe creatrice pour examiner les processus de croissance dans les comtes ruraux et urbains, Regional Studies 41, 1-20. Dans son livre Rise of the Creative Class (L'Essor de la classe creatrice) (2002), Richard Florida affirme de facon convaincante que, de nos jours, l'amenagement du territoire depend des combinaisons originales de la connaissance et des idees, que certaines categories socioprofessionnelles se specialisent dans cette tache, que ceux qui travaillent dans de telles categories sont pousses vers des professions qui offrent une qualite de la vie elevee, et donc la strategie cle est de creer un milieu qui attire et retient ces travailleurs. L'analyse du developpement rural recent dans les comtes ruraux aux E-U qui porte sur l'equipement naturel comme indicateur de la qualite de la vie, confirme la these qui prone la classe creatrice. Repeter l'analyse pour les comtes urbains montre aussi une correlation etroite entre la presence de la classe creatrice et la croissance, alors que l'equipement naturel joue un moindre role. Cependant, les resultats dependent d'une mesure de la classe creatrice reformulee qui exclut de la mesure originale de Florida beaucoup des professions dont les criteres de creativite sont peu importants et dont les employes travaillent principalement dans la production economique. La mesure se conforme plus etroitement a la notion de la classe creatrice et s'avere en correlation plus etroite avec l'amenagement du territoire que ne le fait la mesure originale de Florida. Equipement Validite du concept Professions Amenagement du territoire McGranahan D. und Wojan T. (2007) Neues Modell der kreativen Klasse zur Untersuchung von Wachstumsprozessen in landlichen und stadtischen Bezirken, Reg...

Recent work challenges the notion that attracting creative workers to a place is sufficient for generating local economic growth. In this article, we examine the problem of sustaining robust growth in the periphery of the USA, demonstrating the contingent nature of talent as an engine for economic growth. We test the hypothesis that rural growth in the knowledge economy is dependent on the ability to utilize new knowledge, perhaps generated elsewhere, in addressing local economic challenges. Tests confirm that the interaction of entrepreneurial context with the share of the workforce employed in the creative class is strongly associated with growth in the number of new establishments and employment, particularly in those rural counties endowed with attractive outdoor amenities.

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This report estimates the impact that high levels of enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) have had on economic trends in rural counties since the program's inception in 1985 until today. The results of a growth model and quasi-experimental control group analysis indicate no discernible impact by the CRP on aggregate county population trends. Aggregate employment growth may have slowed in some high-CRP counties, but only temporarily. High levels of CRP enrollment appear to have affected farm-related businesses over the long run, but growth in the number of other nonfarm businesses moderated CRP's impact on total employment. If CRP contracts had ended in 2001, simulation models suggest that roughly 51 percent of CRP land would have returned to crop production, and that spending on outdoor recreation would decrease by as much as $300 million per year in rural areas. The resulting impacts on employment and income vary widely among regions having similar CRP enrollments, depending upon local economic conditions.