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The ethnically and racially uneven role of water infrastructure spending in rural economic development

Nature Water volume 1, pages 74–82 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Here we test the hypothesis that local government spending on water infrastructure is associated with higher levels of economic development, and the hypothesis that this association is unequal between ethnoracial groups. Using data from the State and Local Government Finance Surveys and the US Census Bureau, we estimate a series of county-level spatial econometric models from 1980 to 2015. Our results support our hypotheses, with most beneficial associations taking 8 years to become evident. Furthermore, through the use of interactional models, we show that this effect is ethnically and racially uneven, with the benefits of investment decreasing as counties become more Latino/a and non-Latino/a Indigenous, and either increasing or decreasing as counties become more non-Latino/a Black, dependent on the specific outcome. Our results suggest that continued investment in rural water infrastructure has the potential to have wide-ranging, but possibly uneven, economic benefits for residents.

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Fig. 1: Trends in county-area water infrastructure spending.
Fig. 2: Coefficient plot of primary models of water infrastructure and economic development.
Fig. 3: Changes in the association between water infrastructure spending and poverty as moderated by ethnoracial composition.
Fig. 4: Changes in the association between water infrastructure spending and per capita income as moderated by ethnoracial composition.
Fig. 5: Changes in the association between water infrastructure spending and unemployment as moderated by ethnoracial composition.

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Data availability

The raw data used to conduct this analysis are available at the Open Science Framework project page for the USDA-NIFA funded project this paper is associated with at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KT5MD.

Code availability

The STATA code to compile the raw data and conduct the analyses reported here is available at the Open Science Framework project page for the USDA-NIFA funded project this paper is associated with at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KT5MD.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative under grant 2022-67023-36536 to S.G. and J.T.M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

    J. Tom Mueller

  2. Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Stephen Gasteyer

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Contributions

J.T.M.: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualization, funding acquisition. S.G.: conceptualization, writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to J. Tom Mueller.

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Supplementary Tables 1–10 and Figs. 1–3.

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Mueller, J.T., Gasteyer, S. The ethnically and racially uneven role of water infrastructure spending in rural economic development. Nat Water 1, 74–82 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-022-00007-y

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