Essays From West of 98: Regional Context
Last week, we opened the concept of viewing jobs and economic development in a holistic manner. Rather than trying to create jobs as if they occur in a vacuum, it is better and more realistic to view jobs in the context of the factors that affect jobs and the community at large.
As part of that context, we need to consider the regional nature of jobs, community, and frankly our entire society. Stamford, Texas is not a closed society that operates without influence by or on the surrounding area (if it was, Allsup’s burritos would likely become the official currency, but that’s another topic for another time). A person who lives in Stamford likely does some portion of their business outside of town, from grocery shopping to healthcare to banking. People who live in Stamford do not work solely in our city limits. Businesses in Stamford do not solely employee people from Stamford. It’s the nature of our free enterprise system and American society that these things are far more intermingled. Stamford people buy goods and services in neighboring towns. People across the area shop at Walmart in Stamford. Financial institutions have clients in every town within a multi-county radius. All of us do business in Abilene on some level of frequency.
For whatever reason (high school football rivalries can be a factor), we tend to treat economic activity in rival communities as a zero-sum game. A new job in Haskell is one that Stamford didn’t get. A new retail establishment in Stamford is a victory over Anson. This attitude, when removed from the football field, can be poisonous on multiple levels. That new job in Haskell? It doesn’t exist in a vacuum that doesn’t impact Stamford. What if a Stamford resident is hired? What if the business is actually owned by a Stamford resident? What if the job goes to a person new to the area, but they decide to live in Stamford, because they found a house that they liked here, they want to send their kids to our schools, and the 15-minute Stamford/Haskell commute sure beats their 45-minute daily drive in the sprawling suburb they just left?
I have plenty of reasons why I’m not a suburbs person (we don’t have the time to go into that today), but the suburbs have a few lessons that rural communities should learn from. When you drive on a major highway through the DFW Metroplex, you probably drive through more different municipalities than you realize. People might live in one city, work in another, and regularly shop in seven others. There’s no zero-sum game. The boom in Ft. Worth’s economy, or the growth of a bigger suburb like Arlington, reverberates onto smaller and adjoining suburbs, and nobody gives it a second thought. In fact, some of those cities work to fund regional projects together, from economic development to emergency services.
The symbiotic effect on economic development feels obvious in growing suburbs. The economic growth in one suburb feeds growth in others and vice versa. It feels less obvious in rural America. Maybe it’s the distance factor. 15 miles between towns suggests more economic separation than side-by-side suburbs. Maybe it is the historic rivalries that color a person’s mindset, even subconsciously. Maybe it is because we are all so anxious for new jobs that it can be harder to celebrate a win in the next town over. It’s probably a little bit of all of that. Whatever the cause, it is actively harmful to how we *should* view economic impact on rural communities.
It is also factually inaccurate. A few years ago, I heard a talk from Ken Becker, then the wise economic development administrator in Sweetwater, Texas. He said their research showed that any new job creation within 60 miles of Sweetwater had some positive economic impact on their community. They viewed any new job in that radius as a positive for Sweetwater. Some of those people might live in Sweetwater. Some might shop regularly there. Some might just occasionally shop there, but every dollar spent in town is a good one that impacts the economy.
Sweetwater’s 60-mile impact radius might not be the same for each town, because that is driven by local circumstances, but each of our radiuses is a lot bigger than you think. Stamford’s case is instructive—our Walmart attracts shoppers from about 10 counties. In that respect, every new job in any of those counties will probably impact Stamford positively, even with just occasional trips to Walmart. Economies are regional. States realize it. Suburbs and metropolitan areas realize it. Rural communities should realize it if they don’t already.
James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to West of 98 wherever podcasts are found.