Doctoral Dissertation Research: Market Forces, Government, and Regional Development: A Case Study of the Appalachian Regional Commission

该博士论文研究改进奖提供了阿巴拉契亚地区委员会（ARC）的科学案例研究，该委员会是国会于1965年指定的一个机构，旨在改善阿巴拉契亚地区的社会经济条件。尽管ARC的活动为了解联邦在经济萧条地区的区域发展努力提供了丰富的资源，但目前可用的研究对ARC的经验提供的见解有限，还有很多有待了解的地方。本研究解决了一些对理解ARC至关重要的具体问题，包括：在ARC存在的过程中，阿巴拉契亚地区的联邦支出与美国其他地方的联邦支出相比如何；ARC政策随时间的变化，包括机构支出的空间变化以及私营部门与这些支出的相互作用；以及与ARC政策相关的社会经济结果。这种分析利用了一系列定量和定性技术，包括描述性统计、计量经济模型、文件分析和访谈。它还利用一系列资源，包括ARC支出数据库，其中载有1965年至2002年ARC所有支出的资料；项目文件，包括ARC项目的详细描述；整个美国联邦政府的支出数据；以及社会和经济数据的历史数据库。由于需要对区域发展机构如何在社会、政治和经济背景下有效运作进行实证和理论评估，该案例研究位于新古典经济学的广泛理论背景下，这在很大程度上有利于该理论的基本原则。尽管ARC在很多方面都是一个时代的遗迹，当时联邦政府对美国地区发展的关注和努力比今天更加突出，但在过去的几年里，联邦政府对地区发展计划的兴趣重新显现出来。最近成立的两个新的发展机构——三角洲地区管理局和德纳里委员会，以及国会关于在美国其他经济萧条地区建立区域发展机构的讨论，都证明了这一点。ARC在许多方面为这些新的和拟议中的机构提供了榜样。然而，由于缺乏与ARC相关的经验性研究，导致人们对该机构执行其任务的有效性认识不足。这一案例研究将扩大人们对ARC及其工作成效的了解。从很多方面来说，ARC都是联邦发展机构如何在美国政治和经济体系中面对成功和失败的一个测试案例。这种理解对于指导美国和其他地方未来的发展工作非常重要。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award provides a scientific case study of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), an agency designated by Congress in 1965 to improve the socioeconomic conditions of Appalachia. Although the ARC's activities provide a rich resource for understanding federal regional development efforts in economically depressed areas, currently available research provides limited insight into the ARC's experience, and much remains to be understood. This research addresses a number of specific issues that are essential to understanding the ARC, including: how federal expenditures within Appalachia have compared to federal expenditures elsewhere in the U.S. during the course of the ARC's existence; the variation in ARC policy over time, including the spatial variation in the agency's expenditures and private sector interaction with such expenditures; and socioeconomic outcomes associated with ARC policy. This analysis utilizes a range of quantitative and qualitative techniques, including descriptive statistics, econometric modeling, document analysis, and interviews. It also draws upon an array of resources, including an ARC expenditure database, which contains information about all ARC expenditures from 1965 through 2002; project files consisting of detailed descriptions of ARC projects; federal government expenditure data for the entire U.S.; and an historical database of social and economic data. The case study is situated in the broad theoretical context of neoclassical economics, due to the need for empirical and theoretical evaluation of how a regional development agency can operate effectively in a social, political, and economic context that largely privileges the basic tenets of such theory.Although the ARC is in many respects a relic of an era when federal regional development concerns and endeavors in the U.S. were more prominent than they are today, a renewed interest in regional development initiatives has surfaced in the federal government over the past few years. There is evidence for this in the recent creation of two new development agencies - the Delta Regional Authority and the Denali Commission - as well as in discussions in Congress about creating regional development agencies in other economically depressed areas of the U.S. The ARC has in many ways served as a model for these new and proposed agencies. However, a lack of empirically informed research related to the ARC has resulted in insufficient knowledge about the efficacy with which the agency has carried out its mandate. This case study will broaden the understanding of the ARC and of the effectiveness of the agency's efforts. In many ways, the ARC stands as a test case for how a federal development agency can meet with success, and failure, within the American political and economic system. Such understanding can be important to guiding future development efforts in the U.S. and elsewhere. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.