In Consuming Newton County: A Short History, Lisa R. Pruitt (University of California-Davis Law) presents a history of economic evolution and the concomitant tensions between consumerism and conservation in rural Newton County, Arkansas. Tucked away in the Boston Mountains and the home of the Buffalo National River’s headwaters, Newton County is home to 8,000 residents and has long attracted the attention of nature conservation and recreational tourism groups alike.

In “Economic Development for Native Nevada: How Indian Gaming Can Further Tribal Self-Determination,” author Makai Zuniga (J.D. Candidate, Nevada, Las Vegas Law) examines the historical and ongoing economic barriers faced by Nevada’s Indigenous tribes and proposes strategies for rural tribes to enter the gaming market despite restrictive regulations.

In Trading Acres, Jessica A. Shoemaker (Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln) and James Fallows Tierney (Law, Illinois Institute of Technology) address the growing trend of financialization of farmland.  

In “Broadband Internet Speed Upgrades and the Farmland Market: A Shift-Share Instrumental Variable Approach,” authors Xiaorui Qu, Qinan Lu, Minghao Li, and Wendong Zhang (all College of Economics and Management, China) conduct an empirical analysis of the impact of investment in broadband internet on the value of America’s farmland.

In How Service Exclusion Affects Rural Depopulation. An Approach Based on Structural Equation Modeling, M. Pilar Alonso (Geography, History and History of Art, Universitat de Lleida), Pilar Gargallo, Jesús A. Miguel, Manual Salvador (all Applied Economics, Universidad de Zaragoza), Luis Lample (Accounting and Finance, Universidad de Zaragoza), and Carlos López Escolano (Geography and Territorial Planning, Universidad de Zaragoza) present an analysis of rural depopulation trends in the Aragon region of Spain.