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The Creative Class A Key to Rural Growth

The creative-class thesis—that towns need to attract engineers, architects, artists, and people in
other creative occupations to compete in today’s economy—may be particularly relevant to rural
communities, which tend to lose much of their talent when young adults leave for college, the
Armed Forces, or “city lights.”

The creative class lives mostly in urban settings, but is also found in rural areas with mountains,
lakes, and other rural amenities.

Nonmetro counties with higher proportions of people in creative class occupations tended to
have higher rates of patent formation and manufacturing technology adoption in the 1990s—
and higher rates of job growth in 1990-2004.

David A. McGranahan, [email protected]
Timothy R. Wojan, [email protected]

Full Report: http://www.matr.net/files/Creativeclassdrivesrural.pdf

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