Publications

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Demographic Trends in Rural and Small Town America
March 15, 2006
This report examines the changing demographics of rural America and shows that the makeup of rural America is changing as certain regions grow with the migration of retirees and baby boomers into amenity-rich areas. At the same time, other places face economic uncertainty as younger residents continue to leave in search of more opportunities. Racial and ethnic diversity, meanwhile, continues to…
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Stretching Ties: Social Capital in the Rebranding of Coös County, New Hampshire
October 5, 2011
Place rebranding is gaining in popularity as cities and rural communities alike attempt to expand their revenue streams through innovative marketing strategies that seek to revitalize or create tourism destinations. These efforts tend to come about as part of an economic development strategy pursued by communities that have borne steep economic losses resulting from global economic restructuring…
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Changing Church in the South: Religion and Politics in Elba, Alabama
January 15, 2006
Conventional wisdom and statistical evidence show Southerners to be considerably more conservative on social issues like gay marriage and abortion than others in the U.S. But in shifting one's vantage point from the aerial view of statistics to the streets of Elba, Alabama, the relationships among faith, politics and social values become far more nuanced and dynamic. In this Southern Baptist…
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More Poor Kids in More Poor Places: Children Increasingly Live Where Poverty Persists
October 18, 2011
The authors of this brief examine child poverty rates using decennial census data from 1980, 1990, and 2000, as well as American Community Survey five-year estimates between 2005 and 2009, to identify those counties where child poverty has persisted. They find persistent child poverty in nearly twice as many U.S. counties as those that report high persistent poverty across all age groups. In all…
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A Profile of Youth Poverty and Opportunity in Southwestern Minnesota
February 14, 2017
Like many rural communities across the United States, Southwestern Minnesota (hereafter SW Minnesota; see Box 1) has an aging population, evidenced by a growing share of seniors and a declining share of children and young adults, particularly among the non-Hispanic white population.1 As the population ages, it is also becoming more diverse, as racial-ethnic minority population is far younger, on…
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On Renewable Energy and Climate, Trump Voters Stand Apart
February 2, 2017
Globally, 2016 was the warmest year on record, surpassing records set in 2015 and 2014,1 and each new record emphasizes the longer-term upward trend. Though not every place on Earth experienced warming effects last year, they were quite evident in many areas. Rising South Pacific sea temperatures caused the largest die-off ever recorded of the coral that composes Australia’s Great Barrier Reef,…
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Drugs, Alcohol, and Suicide Represent Growing Share of U.S. Mortality
January 31, 2017
Americans are killing themselves at an alarming rate. Nationwide, the mortality rate1, from drug poisoning, alcohol poisoning, and suicide increased by 52 percent between 2000 and 2014. Most of this increase was driven by a surge in prescription opioid and heroin overdoses, but overdoses from other drugs, suicides by means other than drugs, and alcohol-induced deaths also increased over this…
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State EITC Programs Provide Important Relief to Families in Need
February 28, 2017
The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the largest anti-poverty programs in the nation, offering tax credits to low- and moderate-earning families.1 The amount of EITC benefits varies by earnings and the number of dependent children in a family, with considerably more generous benefits going to families with children. In addition to the federal EITC, as of 2015, twenty-six states…
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Gaps in Youth Opportunity by State
March 9, 2015
Public discourse on economics in the United States, and around the world, often focuses on rising income and wealth inequality. The “Occupy” movement drew great attention to the rising fortunes of the top one percent while middle- and lower-income Americans lost ground. Vast scholarly, political, and media attention is focused on issues of growing inequality and implications for broader societal…
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Carsey Perspectives: To Dig, Or Not To Dig?
January 17, 2017
Editor’s Note: Tom Haines, a journalist and assistant professor of English at The University of New Hampshire, has walked hundreds of miles across landscapes of fuel while researching a book about energy and the environment that will be published in 2018. He served as a Carsey School Summer Research Scholar in 2015, when he walked 50 miles among the open-pit coal mines of Wyoming’s Powder River…
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Strategies to Strengthen Youth Leadership and Youth Participation Opportunities in Central Appalachia
May 5, 2015
Appalachia is facing a vacuum of new leader-ship to move forward. Now is the time to specifi-cally develop and encourage youth leadership in the region, inviting young people to sit at decision mak-ing tables and allowing them to speak directly to the type of communities in which they want to remain. In Appalachia, critical youth leadership is important but few opportunities and organization…
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Scaling U.S. Community Investing
October 19, 2015
Scaling U.S. Community Investing: The Investor-Product Interface, an in-depth landscape study of the U.S. Community Investing (USCI) field. The full report includes a detailed analysis of the major types of USCI products, parameters that different investors use to evaluate investment opportunities, and the barriers and opportunities to increasing investment.
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The Impact of Financial Products and Services on Quality of Life
February 3, 2016
http://ncif.org/sites/default/files/free-publications/The%20Impact%20of%20Fin%20Products%20and%20Services%20on%20QOL%20-%20Secured.pdf
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CDFIs and Online Business Lending
November 10, 2016
In March 2015, the Center for Impact Finance at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire convened the 16th Annual Financial Innovations Roundtable at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC.
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Coös Teens’ View of Family Economic Stress Is Tied to Quality of Relationships at Home
October 25, 2011
Family economic hardship during adolescence affects family relationships and the social, emotional, and behavioral development of a substantial number of American youth.
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Reliance on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Continued to Rise Post-Recession
November 1, 2011
This brief uses data from the 2007, 2009, and 2010 American Community Survey to provide an up-to-date look at changes in SNAP receipt over the course of the recession. The author reports that receipt of SNAP continued to rise in 2010, increasing 4 percentage points since the recession began in 2007, and 1.6 percentage points since 2009.
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Carsey Perspectives: New Hampshire's Electricity Future
March 7, 2017
May 2017 update PointLogic Energy, a source for natural gas pipeline flow and capacity in the original report, has recently updated its models for calculating natural gas flow in the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in New England. This model update has resulted in significant changes to their previous estimates. Most importantly, data obtained from PointLogic Energy in December 2016 supported the finding…
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Teen Stress and Substance Use Problems in Coös: Survey Shows Strong Community Attachment Can Offset Risk
November 29, 2011
This brief explores how social stress and community attachment are related to problem alcohol and drug use for girls and boys in Coös County, New Hampshire.
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Do You Believe the Climate Is Changing? Answers From New Survey Research
December 6, 2011
This brief explores how political views influence Americans’ understanding and perception of science. The research is based on a national version of the Community and Environment in Rural America survey called NCERA, and on New Hampshire’s statewide Granite State Poll.
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Rates of Public Health Insurance Coverage for Children Rise as Rates of Private Coverage Decline
December 7, 2011
This brief uses data from the 2008, 2009, and 2010 American Community Survey to document changes in rates of children’s health insurance, between private and public. The authors report that, nationally, private health insurance for children decreased by just under 2 percentage points, while public health insurance increased by nearly 3 percentage points.