The Problem Is Deeper Than You Think
It isn't the dollar amount. It's the formula.
Population in the U.S. is heavily skewed to metros
Federal funding decisions that use data in fat-tailed distributions* to allocate and award resources unintentionally cause unpredictable systematic failures.
*A fat-tailed distribution means rare events carry outsized consequences. When extremes do happen, their impact is far bigger than what a normal “bell curve” would predict.
The Paradox of Being Both "Rural" and "Not Rural"
The causes of primary criteria for funding based off fat-tailed distributions: unintended, unpredictable, catasrophic consequences occur.
Classified as RURAL
Classified as URBAN
There's Plenty of Research but Few Solutions.
Most studies look from the outside in, but success is built from the inside out.
Systematic Framework
Current research on rural entrepreneurial ecosystems emphasizes the importance of local assets and social capital but lacks systematic frameworks for matching communities to appropriate development strategies.
Comprehensive Solutions
Federal resource allocation studies consistently identify bureaucratic fragmentation and population-based criteria as barriers to effective rural development, yet few propose comprehensive solutions.
Scalable Integration
Place-based development literature demonstrates the effectiveness of asset-driven approaches but has not been integrated with federal program structures or scaled beyond individual case studies.