Heather Stephens, professor of community and economic development and director of the Regional Research Institute at West Virgina University, will give the talk, "The Local Impact of Coal Mining Closures," at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 2, in 157 Hosler Building on Penn State's University Park campus.
The event is part of the fall seminar series hosted by the Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI). The talk is free and open to the public.
A region's geographic characteristics and industry composition can impact how they react to economic shocks. Stephens will discuss how the mid-2000s natural gas boom and subsequent decline in coal demand impacted the economic outcomes for Appalachian coal communities.
"Using administrative data on mine activity and employment to measure the impact of coal mine closures on local economic outcomes, we find these closures significantly increased local unemployment and reduced jobs, wages and output," Stephens said.
Results reveal the unique and nuanced impacts of the coal shock in Appalachia: in an area of the country with stagnating incomes, the higher wages for coal jobs in some counties led to more severe economic consequences.
"Our findings suggest that Appalachian mine closures during the 2010s coal shock had significant negative impacts on regional economies that persisted up to five years after the shock's end," Stephens said.
Stephens' research focuses on examining issues related to regional economic development and the differences in the impact of policies across regions. Her current and past research has examined questions related to energy, environmental quality, entrepreneurship, labor markets, health and regional growth. Her work has been published in journals including the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, Growth and Change, Journal of Regional Science, Resource and Energy Economics, and Small Business Economics. She also is chair of the technical advisory committee for the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and served two terms on the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Council. She serves as founding co-editor of the outreach-oriented journal, Reaching Regions, and previously served as an editor of the Journal of Regional Science.
About EEEPI
Established in 2011, EEEPI operates as a University-wide initiative at Penn State with support from the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and the Institute of Energy and the Environment. EEEPI seeks to catalyze research in energy and environmental systems economics across the University and to build a world-class group of economists with interests in interdisciplinary collaboration.
