A good piece by Eduardo Porter on the decline of rural America. Like him. I find it hard to believe that any of the proposals being offered would do much to turn this around 1/ nytimes.com/interactive/20…
One point I find interesting: around two decades ago, there was a debate about whether information technology would promote or reduce urban concentration, e.g. this paper by Gaspar and Glaeser 2/ nber.org/papers/w5562
At this point the evidence is clear: IT has fostered more concentration, not less, although some people are moving to the country and telecommuting (as long as there's a cute coffee shop nearby) 3/ nytimes.com/2018/12/14/rea…
But a true rural revival seems very unlikely. And while moving to the big city may help many individuals, those who can't or won't move are going to be bitter for a long time 4/
