Research suggests dependence on natural resource development leads to decreases in per capita income, increases in inequality, and elevated poverty. Natural resource development generally takes two forms—extractive (e.g., oil and gas, mining, timber) and nonextractive (e.g., tourism, recreation, real estate). However, research has rarely examined both in tandem. Drawing on the concept of dependence (i.e., overspecialization), the author tests the hypothesis that increasing levels of both forms of development were associated with diminishing returns to economic prosperity—operationalized as per capita income, inequality, and poverty—in rural America over the period of 2000 to 2015. Extractive development exhibited the expected relationship in remote rural counties for all outcomes, while nonextractive development had a generally negative relationship with per capita income, a positive relationship with poverty, and no relationship with inequality. Support for the overall hypothesis was limited due to the returns of nonextractive development being more negative than expected.

研究表明，对自然资源开发的依赖导致人均收入下降，不平等加剧和贫困加剧。自然资源开发通常采取两种形式：提取性（例如，石油和天然气，采矿，木材）和非提取性（例如，旅游，娱乐，房地产）。但是，研究很少同时进行研究。作者利用依赖（即过度专业化）的概念，检验了以下假设：在美国农村地区，两种发展形式的水平提高都与经济繁荣的收益递减相关（以人均收入，不平等和贫困作为经营依据）。从2000年到2015年。采掘业发展显示了偏远农村县所有结果的预期关系，非剥夺性发展与人均收入通常呈负相关，与贫困呈积极关系，与不平等无关系。由于非提取性发展的回报比预期更负，因此对总体假设的支持有限。