Abstract:
From 1980 to 2002, the U.S. prison population grew from 330,000 to 1,350,000 inmates.
To house these prisoners, hundreds of new prisons were constructed in non-metro
counties. Most communities accepted prisons on the promise of new jobs and the hope of
economic development, but little research has been done to determine the actual
economic development value these institutions provide to the rural counties where they
are located. In order to measure the impact of new prisons on the rural economy, this
research compares indicators of economic development between non-metro counties with
new prisons and similar non-metro counties without prisons. Prisons, as a public good,
are limited in their ability to stimulate economic development.
